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What is the role of local law enforcement in the immigration debate?

According to Austin News 8, defining the role is what local civil rights activists and attorneys are trying to help the city of Austin figure out.

Monday, these advocates presented recommendations to the Austin City Council. “The recommendations have little to do with the federal agency, U.S. and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and their authority at Travis County Jail, or the jail’s policies, but rather they attempt to lower the number of immigrants who end up in jail for minor offenses.”

“The commission recommended, rather than arresting persons involved in non-violent Class A or Class B misdemeanors and taking them to jail, the Austin Police Department and the Travis County Sheriff’s Department should issue citations and court summons at their discretion, as indicated in Texas House Bill 2391,” the article said.

Austin Immigrants’ Rights Coalition member Caroline Keating-Guerra said that “60 % of those issued immigration holds were originally detained for misdemeanors.”

From Jan. 1 through March 31, ICE agents placed 763 Travis County inmates on immigration holds, a 400 % increase from the same period last year.

“While the recommendations do not translate into law, activists said it relays a strong message to city council from a community that has worked hard over the months to fight a policy change they say promotes racial profiling by police officers.”

“We’ve heard of ICE officials targeting people just because they look Latino or speak Spanish, which doesn’t necessarily mean they’re an immigrant, but this is clearly racial profiling,” Keating-Guerra said.

She goes on to say, ““the biggest [issue] being, and the most relevant to the city level, is that because of this new policy, immigrants are now afraid to go report crimes to the police,” Keating-Guerra said. “That goes for witnesses and victims of crime.”

The heavy-handed policies toward immigrants, have had unintended consequences for communities across the country. For more information on these or other issues, please continue to visit Habla Blog and our website www.wardspeaking.com.