287 (g) – New Study Reveals Connection Between Enforcing Immigration Laws and National Security
October 30, 2009
By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer

CNS News

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CNSNews.com) – A new study by the conservative think tank Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) reveals the connection between enforcing immigration laws and national security – sometimes in chilling detail.

“Shortly after midnight on September 9, 2001, Maryland state trooper Joseph Catalano pulled over a red Mitsubishi rental car traveling 90 mph in a 65 mph zone on I-95 north of Baltimore,” the introduction of the report stated.

“The driver, Ziad Jarrah, had a Florida driver’s license and quietly accepted the $270 fine issued by Catalano before continuing on to join his friends at a hotel in New Jersey. Two days later, Jarrah boarded United Airlines flight 93, which he would later pilot into a field near Shanksville, Pa., killing everyone aboard,” it added.

“In 2001, Trooper Catalano had no way of knowing that Jarrah was an illegal alien who had overstayed his business visitor visa. But in the years since 9/11, dozens of state and local law enforcement agencies have been able to join ranks with federal immigration authorities under the auspices of the 287(g) program to help identify and remove foreign nationals who commit crimes or otherwise pose a threat to our well-being,” the report said.

“These state and local agencies are making a significant contribution to public safety and homeland security, not just in their jurisdictions, but for us all,” it added.

The 287 (g) programs the CIS refers to is the program that started in 2003 as an amendment to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.

The program trains and certifies state and local law enforcement personnel to enforce federal immigration law through Memorandums of Agreement (MOA) issued by the Department of Homeland Security through its Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

“This Backgrounder examines the 287(g) program’s history and its status,” the introduction states. “We interviewed participating local law enforcement agencies (LEAs), reviewed statistics and reports provided by local LEAs, analyzed data provided by ICE through a FOIA request, and scoured news reports on the program.”

Some of the findings in the report include:

287(g) officers lodged immigration charges on more than 81,000 illegal or criminal aliens between January 2006 and November 2008, according to data provided to us by ICE.

In 2008, the number of 287(g) arrests (45,368) was equal to one-fifth of all criminal aliens identified by ICE in prisons and jails nationwide that year (221,085). The program has flagged a large number of known serious and/or violent offenders, as well as some low-level offenders still at the bottom of the criminal behavior escalator.

Illegal aliens targeted by the program have been identified as a result of involvement in local law-breaking in addition to immigration law-breaking.

Participating agencies credit the 287(g) program as a major factor in reduced local crime rates, smaller inmate populations, and lower criminal justice costs.

287(g) is cost-effective — much less expensive than other criminal alien identification programs such as Secure Communities and Fugitive Operations. For example, in 2008 ICE spent $219 million to remove 34,000 fugitive aliens (mostly criminals).

In 2008, ICE was given $40 million for 287(g), which produced more than 45,000 arrests of aliens who were involved in state and local crimes.

In Harris County, Texas, the billion-dollar ICE Secure Communities interoperability program found about 1,718 removable aliens in its first six months beginning late in 2008; meanwhile the locally paid 287(g) officers in the same jail system charged about 5,000 criminal aliens over the same time period.

287(g) is a force multiplier. In 2008, the Colorado state 287(g) unit alone made 777 immigration arrests. In that same year the entire ICE investigations office based in Denver, which covers all of Colorado and several other states, made a total of 1,594 arrests.

In Maricopa County, Ariz., the local ICE detention and removal manager supervises five ICE deportation agents, who are supplemented by 64 additional locally paid county jail 287(g) officers who also identify and process criminal aliens.

The biggest obstacle to improving and expanding the 287(g) program is the lack of funding for bed space to detain illegal aliens discovered by local agencies to have committed crimes. As a result, ICE currently is removing fewer than half of the criminal aliens identified under 287(g).

Several states have submitted proposals to ICE to help alleviate this problem, but ICE has not acted to increase funding for bed space, even as it claims to prioritize the removal of criminal aliens.

The report, written by Jessica M. Vaughan, director of policy studies at CIS, and CIS Fellow James R. Edwards, Jr., is critical of the Obama administration and Congress for not fully supporting the 287 (g) program as the report concludes it was intended to operate.

“The 287(g) program has been a welcome addition to U.S. immigration law,” the report states. “It represents the forward thinking of serious lawmakers. The program’s success, once congressional advocates helped advance it despite bureaucratic resistance, has been significant.

“However, the 287(g) program could be much bigger, fine-tuned for greater efficiency and effectiveness, and augmented in ways that represent maturing,” the conclusion continued. “287(g) has achieved the success it has is due to sustained commitment from Congress, as well as the administrative branch waking up a bit to that promise.

HERE

Ariz. sheriff’s safety reviewed after Dobbs scare (AP)

PHOENIX — The security of an Arizona sheriff who has aggressively cracked down on illegal immigration is under review after a shooting scare involving CNN commentator Lou Dobbs.

A bullet struck Dobbs’ New Jersey home on Oct. 5. On his radio show this week, Dobbs connected the gunshot to his advocacy for a crackdown on illegal immigration.

Authorities in New Jersey say they’re still investigating and have not yet identified a suspect.

Maricopa County sheriff’s spokesman Ryan Lee says the agency is concerned for Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s safety considering that both Arpaio and Dobbs are extremely vocal about their stance on illegal immigration.

Lee also points to protests that Arpaio’s television and newspaper interviews have incited.

Arpaio’s security detail is looking at the current level of security provided to the sheriff and whether more security is now warranted.

Information from: KNXV-TV, http://www.knxv.com/

HERE

Center for Immigration Studies

Physician, Heal Thyself: Special Pleaders Demand Coverage of Illegal Aliens, While Mexico’s Health Care System Is a Wreck By George W. Grayson
CIS Memorandum, November 2009

Excerpt:

The demand that illegal immigrants be eligible for taxpayer-funded benefits under the health care reform measures now before Congress offers an opportunity to examine the deep flaws in Mexico’s own health care system. American taxpayers already provide more than $1,100 in health care every year for each of the nearly eight million Mexican immigrants (legal and illegal) in the United States who are uninsured or on Medicaid. This is more than twice the per capita health expenditure of Mexico’s own health sector, which is corrupt, unwieldy, and grossly underfunded. Mexico’s neglect of its own people’s health care increases the demands of its expatriates on America’s emergency rooms, clinics, hospitals, doctors, and other providers.

HERE

War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Dissent is Hate.

Hate, Hate Everywhere
By Mark Krikorian
CIS Blog, October 28, 2009
http://cis.org/node/1520

Excerpt:

I feel like taking a shower after writing about the Southern Poverty Law Center, but for some reason it’s taken seriously by the media and even government agencies, so I can’t avoid it. A couple examples this week of how ludicrous the SPLC’s charges of ‘hate’ are. James Taranto at the Wall Street Journal wrote ‘In Defense of Carol Swain’ in reaction to the SPLC smear-meister Mark Potok’s claim that ‘Carol Swain is an apologist for white supremacists.’ Taranto does a good job of assessing the issue at hand, especially remarkable from the WSJ given the fact that Carol is an immigration restrictionist, though that’s not what was at issue. I’ll add only that I know Carol, a black woman who went from being a teenage mom and high-school dropout to earning a PhD and teaching at Vanderbilt, and the very idea that she’s an ‘apologist for white supremacists’ is so outlandish, not to mention scurrilous, as to render whoever makes such a claim not credible on anything else. How can any self-respecting reporter ever quote Mark Potok again on anything?

HERE

WHO IS IN YOUR WALLET?

Nearly half of U.S. households – 47 percent, or 71 million of them – will pay no federal income taxes for 2009, according to a study by the Tax Policy Center. Even when federal taxes to fund Social Security and other programs are considered, under current law 24 percent of households either pay no federal tax or actually get money back by virtue of refundable credits like the earned income tax credit. And proposals by the current administration may make the distribution even worse.

Source: Tax Policy Center

Happy dance here
North County Times — Escondido, Calif.

Undercover sting used to cite, deport Carlsbad day laborers

In a new twist, Carlsbad police have adopted an old tactic to bust day laborers: undercover sting operations similar to those used against street prostitutes. — The undercover stings and the anti-solicitation law that police have been using to cite the workers have opened a legal can of worms…

HERE

Good start on Sanchez HERE.

Fox News

Limbaugh assails Obama’s ‘radical’ agenda, predicts one-term presidency

President Obama is pursuing a “radical” agenda that is putting the economy and national security in peril, talk show host Rush Limbaugh told “Fox News Sunday,” giving the young president failing grades across the board and standing by his sustained criticism of the administration… VIDEO

HERE

THE VITTER AMENDMENT

Tom Tancredo — WorldNetDaily.com

Census count diminishes citizenship

A funny thing happened on the way to the 2010 census. A United States senator stood up and said the next census will be a fraud on the American people. — Louisiana Sen. David Vitter set off a firestorm recently when he introduced an amendment proposing that the upcoming census ask respondents if they are U.S. citizens…

HERE

Mark Krikorian — Center for Immigration Studies

Here’s some real hate speech for you

After the 2007 amnesty failed in the Senate, the open borders crowd decided to forego policy debates and turn up to 11 their efforts to demonize their opponents. As part of that strategy, the Southern Poverty Law Center was assigned to designate FAIR a “hate group,” La Raza started a “We Can Stop the Hate” campaign…

HERE
[Guide exposes SPLC hustlers]