Immigration Law

LAS VEGAS BECOMES LATEST 287(g) CITY

By Greg Siskind

The police department of America's playground is the latest to sign a pact with Immigration and Customs enforcement to turn over immigrants in their custody to the immigration enforcement agency. The local sheriff promises that only immigrants in the city's jails will be turned over and cops on the beat won't seek out immigrants to turn over to ICE. According to the Las Vegas Review Journal:

The program, expected to begin in a few weeks, will not be retroactive, meaning only foreign-born inmates who have been arrested after the program is up and running will be screened through the federal software.

But U.S. citizens who were born in another country also will be subject to screening, another police official said.

[Sheriff Doug] Gillespie also tried to quell concerns from residents and civil rights groups that the new program will target Hispanics, might lead to racial profiling and could hinder the relationship between immigrant communities and police.

"We are not interested in disrupting the lives of law-abiding individuals," Gillespie said. "People who report crimes are not going to be reported to immigration. People who are victims of crimes will not be reported to immigration. We're focusing on the criminal element."

Full post as published by Greg Siskind's Blog on October 18, 2008 (boomark / email).