Local Law Offices Cool in Special Training

By JOHN HAUGHEY, Charlotte Sun Staff Writer
December 9, 2008

Not all local law enforcement agencies are eager to participate in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's 287 (g) program.

"Considering the bottom line, this is the federal government giving local cops permission to do the federal government's job," Lee County Sheriff Michael Scott said. "We already get enough unfunded mandates from the state and federal governments."

Scott said his office was "very much engaged in the process" and set to enroll officers into the program about 18 months ago.

"Very shortly after that, the federal government made some changes in the way they were delivering the program," he said. "I don't know what drove that, but it put the brakes on it in terms of the way they were going to do business with local authorities."

Scott said participating in the 287 (g) program doesn't necessarily mean jails will be cleared of undocumented aliens.

He said ICE often declines to take arrested illegal aliens into custody unless they are wanted for serious crimes, leaving local authorities with no option but to release them.

"ICE is somewhat selective in how they respond," Scott said. "They are looking for the worst of the worst."

He admits to being "frustrated" by ICE's hesitancy to assist his deputies in dealing with undocumented aliens.

Scott said several years ago his office received a tip that illegal aliens had been hired by contractors building the new Lee County Jail.

"We immediately contacted ICE. Frankly, for lack of a better word, we got a run-around," he said. "Reluctantly, they went out with us. We ended up with 25 undocumented foreign-borns building the Lee County Jail.

"If that's not an eye-opener," he continued, "I don't know what is."

Scott said proximity also makes the program less a priority in Lee County.

It "is great, or greater, when there is a bit of a disconnect between law enforcement agencies and ICE," he said. "Our jail, literally, is right across the street from ICE's office. We are almost in the same building."

Charlotte County Sheriff-Elect Bill Cameron wants to enroll corrections officers in the program, but is leery of "mission creep."

"We don't have jurisdiction in immigration (matters) any more than the FBI has jurisdiction in local crime," he said.

But clearing illegal aliens from the local jail is enough incentive to participate.

"For corrections, it can help," Cameron said. "The bottom line in the immigration issue is, what do you do with them after" they've been arrested?

"The federal system is slow to react," he said. "They only have so many agents.They only deport the worst. There is always a backlog."

Only six Florida law enforcement agencies have received 287 (g) training. One, the Bay County Sheriff's Office, has dropped the program.

Cameron said Bay County Sheriff W. Frank McKeithen said the training doesn't address the reason why illegal aliens move into an area -- employers who knowingly hire them.

"He thinks it is more effective to go after employers," Cameron said. "That has some merit to it. That is one place where Florida state law has some teeth in it."

Scott said the program also does not supplant good old-fashioned police work.

"We find the contacts we have everyday are equally bountiful," he said. "We document foreign-born (people) on every contact -- traffic stops, domestic violence. We can't just say, 'Hey, welcome to the country. Have a good day.'"

Lee County deputies recently coordinated with Collier County deputies and ICE agents during a five-day sweep that netted 55 "immigration fugitives" and seven "immigration violators."

"We didn't need specialized training for that," Scott said.

Regardless of how effective the program is, he said, it's does little to resolve the seminal problem.

"Until we secure our borders, you can have all the internal programs you want and they are just not going to work," Scott said.

Local Law Offices Cool in Special Training

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