Immigrants | Local Law Enforcement Issues

S-COMM: A Toolkit for Advocates. Prepared for a July 8, 2010, California statewide teach-in cosponsored by California civil and immigrants' rights groups. It is designed to help California advocates fight to prevent continued expansion of the federal Secure Communities (S-COMM) program in California and, ultimately, to push for statewide disenrollment from the program. (7/10)

TOOLKIT: Uncovering the Truth Behind Police & ICE Collaboration. Developed for a May 2010 "teach-in" whose goal was to empower local communities new to the issues to gain information and generate a public discourse about programs that threaten public safety, systemize racial profiling, and destroy communities. A joint publication of the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), and NILC. (5/10)

Statement of the National Immigration Law Center, Hearing on "Racial Profiling and the Use of Suspect, Classifications in Law Enforcement Policy" before the House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, submitted by Tyler Moran, Federal Policy Director, and Elizabeth Mauldin, Policy Attorney, June 24, 2010.

DHS Office of Inspector General Report: ICE Reforms Fail to Solve Fundamental 287(g) Problems. Based on interviews, direct observations, and a review of documents related to the 287(g) program, the OIG report juxtaposes evidence of serious problems with recommendations for change and ICE’s response to those recommendations. Of the 33 recommendations the OIG makes, ICE itself concurs with 32. The OIG report confirms issues raised by advocates since implementation of INA section 287(g) began in 2002 and provides damning evidence that the program is fundamentally flawed. (4/10)

Civil Rights Violations Complaint Campaign

NILC, the ACLU Immigrant Rights Project, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, and the Rights Working Group have developed a sample civil rights violations complaint form and instructions to document abuses occurring under the various immigration enforcement programs, not just by federal officials but also by local law enforcement officers. This form is for use by groups and individuals interested in documenting such abuses and lodging complaints with the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Dept. of Justice's Civil Rights Division. Detailed instructions on how to fill out the complaint form and where to send copies are included in the packet. More information is available HERE.

Secure Communities? A Dangerous Merger: ICE Enforcement Programs in the Criminal Justice System (a PowerPoint presentation accompanying a Mar. 4, 2010, webinar presented by: Detention Watch Network, Immigrant Defense Project, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Washington Defender Association’s Immigration Project, National Immigration Project of NLG, National Immigration Law Center, and Rights Working Group). (Posted 3/22/10)

Overview of the Key ICE ACCESS Programs: 287(g), the Criminal Alien Program, and Secure Communities. ICE has grouped the major programs that merge immigration enforcement with the criminal justice system under an umbrella scheme called Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security (ICE ACCESS). (11/5/09)

More Questions Than Answers about the Secure Communities Program. "Secure Communities" applies to immigrants regardless of their guilt or innocence, how or why they were arrested, and whether or not their arrests were based on racial or ethnic profiling or were just a pretext for checking immigration status. ICE fact sheets and press releases leave many critical questions unanswered. (3/09)

Administration Announces Harsh New Immigration Measures (article) and List of announced measures: "Improving Border Security and Immigration Within Existing Law" (Depts. of Homeland Security & Commerce, 8/10/07)

Facts About Federal Preemption: How to analyze whether state and local initiatives are an unlawful attempt to enforce federal immigration law or regulate immigration (PDF) (6/28/07)

Introduction & Background: Sample Language for Policies Limiting the Enforcement of Immigration Law by Local Authorities (11/04)(PDF)

Sample Language for Policies Limiting the Enforcement of Immigration Laws by Local Authorities (11/04) (PDF)

appendix a: Sample Language for Policies Limiting the Enforcement of Immigration Law by Local Authorities (11/04) (PDF)

FROM ENTITIES OTHER THAN NILC

The State Immigration Project of the Progressive States Network ("Working with allied labor, civil rights, religious, and community organizations, the . . . State Immigration Project . . . will support state legislative leaders and advocates in challenging the rising anti-immigrant movement at the state level.")

The Anti-Immigrant Movement that Failed: Positive Integration Policies by States Still Far Outweigh Punitive Policies Aimed at New Immigrants (9/08)

State and Local Police Enforcement of Federal Immigration Laws: A Toolkit for Advocates (AILA, MALDEF, NCLR, NIF, NILC, 3/06)

Police Chiefs Guide to Immigration Issues (International Association of Chiefs of Police, 7/07)

Major Cities [Law Enforcement] Chiefs' statement on enforcement of immigration law by local agencies (From the 6/8/06 news release accompanying the statement: "Members of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, comprised of the largest police agencies in America, are the first responders to over fifty million residents. We are very concerned that the public policy [currently] under consideration [in the U.S. Congress] does not take into full account the realities of local law enforcement in dealing with this issue on the ground.")

M.C.C. Immigration Committee Recommendations for Enforcement of Immigration Laws by Local Police Agencies (6/06)

State & Local

LITIGATION (STATE & LOCAL)

Two Louisiana cases: "Driving Without Lawful Presence" (posted 4/24/07)

State of Louisiana v. Omar Barrientos, No. 06-1726 (La. 24th Jud. Dist. Ct. Jefferson Parish Jan. 31, 2007). Court finds that the Louisiana DWLP statute constitutes "an impermissible attempt to regulate immigration and conflicts with federal immigration law."
State of Louisiana v. Juan Herrera, No. 467-763 “K” (La. Crim. Dist. Ct. Orleans Parish Feb. 1, 2007). Court finds that "the defendant's arrest pursuant to LSA-R.S. 14:100.13 was made without probable cause, because it was the result of a selective enforcement policy profiling, targeting and arresting Latino drivers."
see also: "Louisiana Courts Dismiss Charges under Law Prohibiting Driving without Lawful Presence, Citing Preemption and Enforcement Problems," Immigrants' Rights Update, 4/25/07.

LEGISLATION & RESOLUTIONS (STATE & LOCAL)

The Anti-Immigrant Movement that Failed: Positive Integration Policies by States Still Far Outweigh Punitive Policies Aimed at New Immigrants (Progressive States Network, 9/08)

TABLE: Laws, Resolutions, and Policies Instituted Across the U.S. Limiting Enforcement of Immigration Laws by State and Local Authorities (updated 12/3/08)

TABLE: 2005 State Legislation Restricting Benefits for Immigrants or Promoting State and Local Enforcement of Immigration Laws (posted under "State-Funded Benefit Programs ")

Federal

LITIGATION (FEDERAL)

AGAINST ARIZONA'S SB 1070
Friendly House et al. v. Whiting et al.

Proposed Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Filed 6/4/10)

Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (Filed 5/17/10)

Complaint Exhibits 1 & 2 (Arizona Senate & House Bills) (Filed 5/17/10)

Memorandum Brief of Amicus Curiae American Bar Association in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Filed 6/30/10) (Or read the ABA's news release summarizing its four reasons/arguments for why SB 1070 should be enjoined.)

Why Police Chiefs Oppose Arizona’s SB 1070 (Excerpts from declarations submitted as part of the Motion for Preliminary Injunction in Friendly House v. Whiting.) (6/10)

AGAINST ARIZONA'S SB 1070
United States v. Arizona

Order issued July 28, 2010, in United States of America v. State of Arizona, et al., CV10-1413-PHX-SRB, on Plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction (7/28/10)

Complaint (Filed 7/6/10)

Plaintiff's Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Memorandum of Law in Support Thereof (Filed 7/6/10)

AGAINST CITY OF FARMERS BRANCH, TEXAS
Villas at Parkside Partners v. City of Farmers Branch

Memorandum Opinion and Order ("[T]he Court finds . . . that the landlord and tenant plaintiffs have established standing to challenge the ordinance, and that the ordinance is invalid under the Supremacy Clause.") (3/24/10)

Memorandum Opinion and Order Granting Permanent Injunction (Federal district court finds that a local ordinance restricting immigrants' access to housing is preempted by federal law and violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.) (5/28/08)

Memorandum Opinion and Order (Court lacks jurisdiction to consider defendants' proposed counterclaim.) (5/28/08)

Memorandum Opinion and Order Granting Preliminary Injunction (6/19/07)

AGAINST CITY OF HAZLETON, PENNSYLVANIA
Lozano et al. v. City of Hazleton

Federal Court Strikes Down Discriminatory Anti-Immigrant Law in Hazleton, Pennsylvania (link is to ACLU of Pennsylvania website). "In the first trial decision of its kind, a federal court has declared unconstitutional a local ordinance that sought to punish landlords and employers for doing business with undocumented immigrants." (7/26/07)

Decision in Lozano v. City of Hazleton, No. 3:06cv1586 (M.D. Pa. July 26, 2007).

Appeal (by Hazleton) to Third Circuit Court of Appeals

Brief of the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity at University of California, Berkeley Law School as Amicus Curiae in Support of the Plaintiffs-Appellees, Supporting Affirmance.
SUMMARY: "[R]esearch shows that notions of illegality are strongly correlated with a specific racial profile and that this phenomenon is exacerbated within communities, like Hazleton, which have experienced rapid demographic change with the arrival of Latinos. This backlash . . . has resulted in increased alienation [among] U.S.-born and naturalized Latinos. Documented harms . . . include a lack of trust in government entities and a potential increase in hate crimes. . . . [O]rdinances such as Hazleton’s fuel racial divisions and create barriers to integration for a large segment of the population. As such, they are not only unlawful but bad public policy."

LEGISLATION (FEDERAL)

Summary of the Homeland Security Enhancement Act of 2005 (S. 1362) (6/30/05)(PDF)

Summary of the Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal (CLEAR) Act of 2005 (HR 3137) (6/30/05)(PDF)

Summary of the Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal (CLEAR) Act of 2003 (HR 2671) (7/31/03)(PDF)

Immigrants' Rights Update Articles (back to IRU index)