287(g) PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 18, 2009

Media Contacts: Lorena Colin: (941) 539-1209 lorecolin@gmail.com

The Mexican-American Coalition for Immigration Reform (MXCIR) STRONGLY OPPOSES the plan to expand the controversial Bush Administration 287(g) program to eleven new jurisdictions around the country, which has been proposed by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano.

This program relinquishes, with no meaningful oversight, immigration enforcement power to local law enforcement and corrections agencies. Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes local officers to investigate, detain and arrest undocumented immigrants on civil and criminal grounds; it also gives local officers the power and the tools to move detained individuals toward deportation.

287(g) has been associated with serious civil rights abuses and public safety concerns. As ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project’s staff attorney Omar Jadwat said: “No amount of tinkering with the 287(g) program is likely to solve the fact that it threatens public safety and undermines the basic guarantee of equal treatment by increasing profiling of people who look or sound ‘foreign.”

These measures only leave communities even more vulnerable to abuses and fear. It will be harder to encourage undocumented individuals to contact the police to report crimes. In March, the United States Department of Justice launched an investigation into Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, to determine whether Arpaio is using his 287(g) power to target Latinos and Spanish-speaking people. In Davidson County, Tennessee, the Sheriff’s Office has used its 287(g) power to apprehend undocumented immigrants driving to work, standing at day labor sites, or while fishing off piers. One pregnant woman---charged with driving without a license---was forced to give birth while shackled to her bed during labor. In Frederick County, MD individuals have been stopped for air fresheners hanging from rearview mirrors, “driving too slow” and for no reason at all just so they can be interrogated about their immigration status.

Preliminary data indicate that in some jurisdictions the majority of individuals arrested under 287(g) are accused of public nuisance or traffic offenses: driving without a seatbelt, driving without a license, broken taillights, and similar offences. Such a pattern of arrests suggest that local sheriff’s deputies are improperly using their 287(g) powers to rid their counties of immigrants, by making arrests that are then used to forcefully deport people. “We need only look at the example of Maricopa County to understand the devastating effects the increased 287(g) program will have on our communities,” said Chris Newman, Legal Programs Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. “The Obama administration must recognize that the 287(g) program is predatory and ripe for corruption and profiling that will harm community stability and safety for everyone.”

Local law enforcement agencies enrolled in the 287(g) ICE program increasingly perpetrate civil rights abuses against immigrants.

MXCIR condemns and rejects the expansion of this failed program that is clearly not consistent with the Humane Immigration Reform promised by President Barack Obama. MXCIR is deeply worried that this administration will continue the last administration’s ineffective program.

MXCIR DEMANDS AN IMMEDIATE STOP OF THE PROGRAM 287(G) UNTIL COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM IS APPROVED BY THE CONGRESS.

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MXCIR is a national non-partisan leadership network formed by some of the most influential Mexican-American leaders in the United States, including key elected and appointed Mexican Immigrants in the government sphere (in states like Utah, Illinois, Ohio, Virginia, Michigan, etc.). MXCIR members also represent national and local Hispanic/Latino organizations, hometown clubs and federations, labor unions, Spanish-based media, and Mexican business owners, among others.

OPOSICION CONTRA 287(G)

Alerta Migratoria
El pasado Viernes 10 de Julio del presente año, Janet Napolitano, Secretaria del Departamento de Seguridad Interna, dio a conocer las intenciones de expandir a 11 (once) nuevas jurisdicciones el tan controversial y criticado programa: 287(g) ICE.

¿Que es el 287(g)?
Es un programa impuesto por la administración de Bush que básicamente “convierte a los policías vigilantes del tráfico en agentes de deportación”.
Este programa, sin hacer una revisión sustantiva, cede el poder de ejecución de las leyes migratorias (originalmente de carácter Federal) a las agencias locales y centros de corrección. La Sección 287(g) del Acto de inmigración y Nacionalidad autoriza a oficiales locales a investigar, detener y arrestar inmigrantes indocumentados con bases civiles y criminales; además les da a los oficiales locales de policía las herramientas para deportar a los individuos detenidos. 287(g) ha sido asociado con serios abusos a los derechos civiles e inquietudes relacionadas con la seguridad pública.

¿Que estamos haciendo?
La semana pasada, 25 grupos comunitarios y de derechos civiles DENUNCIARON y rechazaron los planes de la Secretaria Napolitano basados en estudios documentados que demuestran con pruebas fehacientes abusos civiles. La coalición Mexicana-Americana por una Reforma Migratoria (MXCIR) ha expresado su oposición al plan de expandir el programa 287(g) y ha reprobado el hecho de que la administración actual este promoviéndolo. Para tal efecto, hemos elaborado un comunicado de prensa que se esta distribuyendo a nivel nacional y dentro de los planes esta organizar manifestaciones de implementarse estas medidas.

¿Cuál es nuestra postura?
MXCIR condena y rechaza la expansión de este fallido programa, el cual es inconsistente con la Reforma Migratoria Humana prometida por el Presidente Barack Obama. La organización MXCIR esta profundamente preocupada de que esta administración continúe apoyando los programas que no han sido efectivos en la administración anterior.
MXCIR DEMANDA UN ALTO INMEDIATO AL PROGRAMA 287(G) HASTA QUE LA REFORMA MIGRATORIA INTEGRAL SEA APROBADA POR EL CONGRESO.

¿Quiénes somos?
MXCIR es un grupo nacional a-partidista formado por una red de líderes Mexicano-Americanos de gran influencia en los Estados Unidos, incluidos funcionarios electos de la esfera gubernamental (en estados como Utah, Illinois, Ohio, Virginia, Michigan, etc.). Los miembros de MXCIR también representan organizaciones Hispanas/Latinas locales y nacionales, clubes y federaciones de oriundos, uniones laborales, medios en español, comerciantes y dueños de negocios mexicanos, entre otros.

¿De que manera puede usted ayudar?
Contacte la “línea de acción” de la Coalición Mexicana para la Reforma Migratoria llamando al 202-370-6901, visite la pagina www.mxreforma.org o mande por texto la palabra “justicia” al numero 69866 para recibir noticias y actualizaciones.
Llame a la oficina de La secretaria de Seguridad Interna Janet Napolitano al 202-282-8495 y diga “NO A LA 287(G)”.
Participe activamente para evitar la imposición de medidas que dañan a nuestra comunidad y para poder lograr una Reforma Migratoria Integral justa.