Latest news with #287(g)Program
Miami Herald
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
UF campus police's role in purging our international community sends a perverse message
ICE and UF The Officers and Board of Directors of the Retired Faculty of the University of Florida (RFUF) are distressed and disgusted regarding state, local and UF's collusion with the outrageous if not unconstitutional visa revocations of international students, faculty and staff at universities across the country, the Florida State University System and the University of Florida specifically. Particularly distressing is the covert and startling way this action has occurred. UF police have essentially been deputized under the federal ICE 287(g) Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) as 'force multipliers' to detain individuals without warrants solely on suspicion of immigration violations. Affected students, faculty and staff have reportedly received little to no formal notice, rationale, or recourse, leaving them confused and in abject terror and uncertainty about their academic futures, legal status and personal well-being. Allowing the ICE 287(g) MOA to go forward sends an unconscionably perverse message to the university community. Perhaps it may irreversibly erode the trust expected of the UF Police Department while unnecessarily diverting officers from their primary mission: campus safety. Even U.S. citizens run the risk of detention if campus police, using cultural profiling as instructed by ICE, take action. Fear of detention could easily prevent a student from seeking medical attention, mental health treatment, or even educational support services. Most disturbing is ICE's authority to access international student data in search of even the smallest infraction to be loosely interpreted as criminal for shameless justification of deportation. We ask UF Interim President Kent Fuchs to devote the substantial time remaining in his tenure to combat the metastatic symptoms of authoritarian intrusion into the university's internal operations. He must immediately condemn and withdraw from the ICE 287(g) Program. The UF Police Department's published guiding principles are completely inconsistent with and anathema to any activity under an ICE 287(g) MOA. States such as Vermont, Rhode Island, Delaware and New Mexico have no such MOAs. Furthermore, Connecticut, New Jersey, Illinois, Washington, Oregon and California have enacted legislation prohibiting such MOAs with ICE. Fuchs must make public the scope and consequences of UF's visa crisis, including the number of affected students, faculty and staff and the rationales provided for visa revocation. He also must contact all those who have already suffered or are at risk of visa revocation to make certain they clearly understand due process protections and are provided legal or administrative counsel, if necessary. For those who have been compelled to leave the United States, make certain that UF continues to support remote participation in their education or professional role, assuming they joined UF with a valid visa. Surely, ICE and other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies have sufficient authority and bandwidth to operate independently without conscripting campus police officers. That a UF agency has been authorized to comply in ICE's misguided and indiscriminate attempt to purge our international community is reprehensible. We greatly respect and appreciate UF's leadership in achieving national preeminence in education, research and public service, which is precisely why we are appealing to Fuchs to maintain the highest ethical standards and independence and why we stand ready to assist him in this urgently needed action. Our international community of students, faculty and staff deserve nothing less. Richard D'Alli (Medicine), immediate past president 2024-2025, Steve Lodle (Communications), chair, RFUF Communications Committee, Gainesville FWC unqualified Re: the May 22 story, 'Two more FWC officers' body cam footage from Pino boat crash deleted, agency says.' Now it's four deleted videos. How unprofessional and unbelievable. Until the investigation is completed, it's still a death investigation. Any professional death investigator knows that nothing is deleted until the state attorney and the medical examiner reach their conclusions. Even then, it should be kept until all civil avenues have been settled. This is pure evidence that FWC has no reason to investigate these matters. As soon as a death occurs, it should be turned over to the Miami-Dade Sheriff's office, which has exceptionally trained investigators with a wealth of experience. Let FWC enforce boating violations, not death investigations. Robert Lynch, Fort Lauderdale Who is a martyr? Re: Mary Anna Mancuso's May 23 op-ed, 'J6 rioter Ashli Babbitt isn't a martyr.' Make no mistake, Babbitt was murdered. She was unarmed and helpless at the time she was shot. The op-ed struck me as quite hypocritical, as I saw no such article in this newspaper proclaiming George Floyd wasn't a martyr and his family, who got much more than Babbitt's family, shouldn't have received compensation. I'm not trying to condone the actions of Derek Chauvin, the police officer who was convicted of killing Floyd, but Floyd was treated as a martyr; there even are statues of him in Minneapolis. Dave Schaublin, Key Largo Spot-on op-ed Thank you, thank you, thank you! Cannot heap enough praise on the integrity of Mary Anna Mancuso's May 23 op-ed, 'J6 rioter Ashli Babbitt isn't a martyr,' while recognizing the courage it takes for a news editor to do the right thing and say it as it is. Society simply cannot continue to accept the glorification of crime. Mancuso has single-handedly helped elevate the faith of many who look to intrepid journalists for transparency and truth. Phillip M. Church, South Miami Campus protests The attack on Harvard University and foreign students in the name of fighting antisemitism is ludicrous. Are we to believe that the many students protesting under the banner 'Not in My Name' and the very president of Harvard are antisemitic? When did anti-war and antisemitic become synonyms? Sonja I. Pantry, Miramar Disaster ahead We are in the middle of a climate change policy revision nightmare. Funding has been cut to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. Meanwhile, Congress is considering startling reversals of regulations and tax credits designed to reduce the impact of fossil fuels on our environment. As if this were not enough, there are efforts to weaken the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which aids communities when disasters hit. We are weakening the nation's forecasting and assistance capabilities, as we also weaken the regulations which fight climate change. This is no time to be silent. Contact Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody. Call your congressman or woman. Get involved in climate organizations, such as Citizens Climate Lobby. Our lives may depend upon it. Kathryn Carroll, Miami DeSantis knows best? While signing a bill earlier this month that stops local governments from adding fluoride to water, Gov. Ron DeSantis said, 'some of these people, they think that they know better for you than you do for yourself.' How can public heath be solely an individual choice? Isn't the public's health serving the greater good? DeSantis and his cronies in the legislature have been finding ways to tell Floridians what we can and cannot do. Books are banned. Universities are no longer places for open ideas and learning. A woman can no longer make decisions about her own body. We no longer can acknowledge and celebrate our diversity as we please. Many among us live in fear of deportation. Our government is seemingly promoting and imposing its own vision of what it thinks is right for Floridians. We are free only if we toe the line the state has laid. A lot of us think differently. Hopefully, the next elections will show how fed up we are. Marsha Broad, Miami Pushy salesman Why is it that, when I listen to President Donald Trump speak on the economy, it's like he's trying to sell a big, beautiful timeshare to me and the American electorate? Jesus Mendez, Coral Gables
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Advocates urge Maine lawmakers to bar police cooperation with ICE
May 19—Immigrants rights advocates urged Maine lawmakers Monday to restrict the ability of police departments to work with federal immigration authorities. One proposal before the Legislature would prohibit agencies or officers from entering into contracts to partner with federal immigration authorities. A second would prohibit police from stopping, arresting or detaining a person solely for immigration enforcement reasons. The proposals come as the Department of Homeland Security is working to expand the number of partnership contracts with local law enforcement agencies nationwide in order to carry out the mass deportations President Donald Trump promised throughout his campaign. Wells is currently the only municipality in Maine participating in the 287(g) Program, according to an ICE database, and the southern Maine town has faced pushback for agreeing to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Lawmakers on Monday held a public hearing on LD 1259, from Rep. Ambureen Rana, D-Bangor, which would prevent state and local agencies from entering into 287(g) Program agreements like the one Wells has. "I am very concerned by the recent push to encourage local law enforcement agencies to enter into 287(g) with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)," Pamela Proulx-Curry, executive director of the Maine MultiCultural Center in Brewer, said in written testimony supporting LD 1259. "Such agreements make our communities more unsafe, not less." Six states — California, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington — have laws or policies that prohibit such agreements, according to ICE. On the other hand, a number of states, such as Georgia and Florida, have passed or are considering legislation requiring law enforcement to seek out or enter into partnerships with ICE under the 287(g) program. Proulx-Curry said the program turns routine encounters with police into opportunities for deportation, creating fear among immigrants and making them less likely to contact police if they witness or are a victim of a crime. "When people don't trust police, they're less likely to report domestic violence, fraud or unsafe working conditions — issues that affect everyone in a community, not just immigrants," she wrote. The Greater Bangor Area Branch NAACP also submitted testimony in support of the bill, testifying that if state and local law enforcement coordinate with immigration authorities it would have a "chilling effect" on immigrant communities and could drain local resources. "As has been documented nationally and within Maine, ICE and (Customs and Border Protection) have been especially targeting communities of color in their actions," wrote branch President Athena Bryce. "This is a civil rights concern for all the people in Maine." The Maine County Commissioners Association, which represents county governments across the state, submitted testimony opposing the bill, saying public safety is a local issue and that local governments should have the flexibility to enter into agreements and partnerships they believe are best for their communities. The bill could also jeopardize federal funds that county jails receive for detaining individuals who are believed to have violated federal law, including immigration laws, according to written testimony from the commission. "If a local law enforcement agency is asked to engage in behavior that is not consistent with the law, whether related to immigration or some other activity, those local agencies already have in place the tools and responsibility to refuse such requests," wrote Stephen Gordon and Jean-Marie Caterina, co-chairs of the association's Legislative Policy Committee. "A blanket state law forbidding cooperation would be unwise, and unwarranted." Rana said the agreements are not needed for local law enforcement to be able to do their jobs or for immigration officials to do their jobs in Maine. She also said the agreements are detrimental to taxpayers. "The bottom line is, a 287(g) agreement requires that we are using our local taxpayer money to do the job of federal immigration enforcement," she said. "Our resources are already limited, both at the state level and at municipalities ... and we should be using our local taxpayer money to care for our residents." Michael Kebede, policy director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, cited several examples of communities from other states that have had to raise property taxes or draw from rainy day funds to implement multi-million dollar 287(g) programs, in testimony Monday. But Ken Mason, sheriff of Kennebec County and chair of the Maine Sheriffs Association Legislative Policy Committee, said members of the sheriffs association are in unanimous opposition to LD 1259. "As sheriffs, we cannot and should not be forced to pick and choose which state and federal laws to enforce," Mason said. Asked about the financial impact, Mason said his agency and others around the state participate in a federal grant program called Operation Stonegarden that is focused on border security and that has been financially beneficial, helping them buy equipment and pay for additional work. He said he couldn't say for sure if that program would be affected by LD 1259. "It's not specific to immigration," he said. "It's just 'Do your regular thing.'" A second bill, LD 1971, from Rep. Deqa Dhalac, D-South Portland, would prohibit law enforcement from stopping, arresting or detaining a person solely for immigration enforcement reasons. It would also require inmates to be informed of their rights prior to being interviewed by immigration authorities, and it would prohibit law enforcement from determining an inmate's custody status based on their immigration status. "(This bill) ensures that local and state law enforcement agencies can focus on their primary mission, which is safeguarding our communities and upholding state law," Dhalac said. Rana said she sees the two bills as complementary. "I do believe the bills work hand-in-hand," she said. "They don't compete. I do believe they address different issues and need to be implemented hand-in-hand to offer the most protections in our state." Copy the Story Link
Indianapolis Star
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Indianapolis Star
These Indiana agencies are officially partnering with ICE to enforce immigration law
Since President Donald Trump's inauguration, four Indiana law enforcement agencies have signed up to participate in the federal government's 287(g) Program, which allows their officers to enforce certain immigration law. The program allows local law enforcement to partner with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, granting trained deputies the right to enforce immigration laws within their jurisdiction. It prioritizes the arrest and detention of people in the country illegally who are accused or convicted of crimes. ICE offers law enforcement agencies three models for enforcing immigration law: Earlier this year, the Indiana General Assembly attempted to approve legislation that would have allowed Indiana's Department of Homeland Security to disburse grants to law enforcement agencies seeking to participate in the 287(g) program. The funds would help pay salaries and overtime for officers who go through the training, while federal funds would pay for the training and equipment costs. Both pieces of legislation, Senate Bill 430 and House Bill 1158, ultimately failed to be approved by the Indiana General Assembly. Here's a list of the four Indiana law enforcement agencies that have signed up for the government's 287(g) program as of May 12, 2025, according to data from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website. On April 10, 2025, the Greens Fork Police Department, which serves a small rural town in eastern Indiana, signed up to participate in ICE's Task Force Model. It's the only municipality law enforcement agency in the state to sign up for the federal government's 287(g) program. The town of Greens Fork has a total population of 335, according to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau data, the most recent available for the town. Out of the 335 people living in the city, four people were identified as Hispanic or Latino, and all foreign-born people living in the city were considered naturalized citizens, according to the U.S. Census Bureau data. Population breakdown, according to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau data: The Greens Fork Police Department is the only law enforcement agency in Wayne County that has signed up to join the federal government's 287(g) program. At the beginning of the year, the Wayne County Sheriff's Office announced it was in compliance with all of ICE's requests and is following all protocols after the Center for Immigration Studies, an independent, nonpartisan, and non-profit research organization, mistakenly labeled it a sanctuary county. The county has since rectified the issue. On March 26, 2025, the Noble County Sheriff's Office, which serves a rural county northeast of Fort Wayne, signed up to participate in ICE's Warrant Service Officer Model. Noble County Sheriff Max Weber told local media in March that the county had already been working with ICE. Noble County Jail Commander Jenny Cummins shared that the county books at least one non-citizen into jail at least once a week. The county is estimated to serve 47,417 people, according to the 2023 U.S. Census Bureau Data. Population breakdown, according to the 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data: On March 17, 2025, the Jasper County Sheriff's Office, which serves a rural county an hour south of Gary, Indiana, signed up to participate in ICE's Warrant Service Officer Model. The county is estimated to serve 33,198 people, according to the 2023 U.S. Census Bureau. Population breakdown, according to the 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data: On March 3, 2025, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, which serves the county north of Indianapolis, signed up to participate in ICE's Jail Enforcement Model. The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office made headlines earlier this year when it became the first Indiana county to sign up for to be part of the 287g program. "By strengthening our partnership with ICE and other federal agencies, we will address criminal activities linked to illegal immigration," Chief Deputy John Lowes, who will oversee the initiative, said in a news release. The county is estimated to serve 371,645 people, according to the 2023 U.S. Census Bureau. Population breakdown, according to the 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data:
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Hampshire State Police announce ‘memoranda of agreement' with ICE
State Police in New Hampshire have joined hundreds of other law enforcement agencies in entering into a 'Memoranda of Agreement' with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, state officials said Wednesday. 'New Hampshire will not go the way of Massachusetts, where sanctuary policies have enabled violent crime and a billion-dollar illegal immigrant crisis,' Gov. Kelly Ayotte said in a statement. 'Criminals who are in our country illegally and pose a danger to our communities should be apprehended and removed,' Ayotte said. 'I'm glad to have State Police and county and local law enforcement working with our federal partners to enforce our immigration laws, and I thank them for their continued efforts to protect and serve New Hampshire.' The 'Memoranda of Agreement,' which became effective Friday, will give troopers the authority to perform certain immigration enforcement functions under a Task Force model after they are trained and certified by ICE in the coming weeks and months, officials said. According to ICE, 230 other agencies in 24 states have signed similar agreements, including the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. A list of participating agencies can be found here. 'The members of the New Hampshire State Police are committed to keeping our communities among the safest in the nation,' New Hampshire State Police Colonel Mark Hall said in a statement. 'Under this agreement, Troopers will be authorized and trained by ICE on how to better respond to immigration violations that they encounter,' Hall said. 'However, residents and visitors should be assured that our mission remains the same as it always has been.' A copy of the agreement is available on the New Hampshire State Police website. Additional information on the 287(g) Program can be found on ICE's website. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
ICE touts record-breaking immigration enforcement during Trump's first 100 days
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently announced that during President Donald Trump's first 100 days of his second term, the agency arrested more than 66,000 illegal immigrants and removed more than 65,000. ICE arrested 66,463 illegal immigrants and removed 65,682, including those accused of threatening public safety and national security, according to a news release from ICE. Three in four arrests of illegal immigrants involved someone accused of committing a crime, according to the agency. "The brave men and women of ICE protect our families, friends and neighbors by removing public safety and national security threats from our communities," ICE acting director Todd M. Lyons wrote in a statement. Nearly 800 Illegal Aliens Arrested In Massive Florida Ice Operation: 'Tidal Wave' The total number of ICE illegal immigrant arrests includes 2,288 gang members from Tren de Aragua, MS-13, 18th Street and other gangs, Lyons said. Read On The Fox News App Tren de Aragua and MS-13 are now listed as foreign terrorist organizations. International Students Sue Over Trump Admin Revoking Visas Additionally, 1,329 were accused or convicted of sex offenses, and 498 were accused or convicted of murder, according to ICE. The criminal records of those arrested include convictions or charges for 9,639 assaults, 6,398 DWIs or DUIs and 1,479 weapon offenses, according to the release. Judge Orders Trump Administration Restore Ohio State Grad Student's Visa Arrests and removals surged with help from state and local law enforcement agencies through the 287(g) Program, which allows local authorities to enforce federal immigration laws. ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations directorate has nearly 600 pending and signed agreements with police departments and sheriff's offices across the nation, demonstrating the effectiveness of a whole-of-government approach to immigration enforcement, according to the release. Since Jan. 20, there have been 444 new 287(g) agreements nationwide. Even still, with about 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., the current 65,682 deportations would account for just 0.59%. Ice Says It Deported 174 Criminal Migrants From Texas, Including A Man With 39 Illegal Entries Officials said ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which also focuses on transnational crime and threats, has been zeroing in on worksite operations to protect American businesses. Since Jan. 20, HSI has arrested more than 1,000 workers who were illegal immigrants, and proposed over $1 million in fines against businesses that hire illegal employees. "This agency has set the bar on arrests and removals while upholding its national security mission," ICE deputy director Madison D. Sheahan wrote in a statement. "Last week, HSI broke up a human smuggling ring that's allegedly responsible for bringing between 500 and 700 illegal aliens into the U.S. every year — aliens that the U.S. government never vetted. Our communities are becoming safer each day thanks to President Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem's leadership." Venezuelan Government Uses Tren De Aragua As Proxies To Undermine Us Public Safety, Fbi Assessment Finds Illegal immigrant encounters are down by 95%, while illegal crossings plunged to levels last seen in the 1960s, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the White House. The number of illegal immigrants who "got away" from immigration enforcement officers is down 99%, with a 655% spike in arrests of suspected terrorists, CBP and the White House said. There are now an additional 85 miles of new border article source: ICE touts record-breaking immigration enforcement during Trump's first 100 days
