Street roots
13
Sheriffs take important step to disentangle from ICE
April 25, 2014
BY BECKY STRAUS
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
ig news last week put Oregon at the
forefront of a national movement to
disentangle local law enforcement
agencies from the harmful practices of
, federal immigration enforcement, throwing
a wrench in the ongoing, devastating
deportation dragnet.
Sheriff Daniel Staton in Multnomah
County joined Sheriff Craig Roberts in
Clackamas County and Sheriff Pat Garrett in
Washington County to announce that they
would suspend the practice of honoring 4
requests from the federal Immigration and
Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) to
detain people in their jails without probable
cause and after their criminal custody has ,
ended. Soon after, the dominos began to fall
as a growing list of Oregon counties echoed
the announcement. ICE “detainer” policy is
currently under review by the Obama
administration, which has seen increasing
pressure from localities to scrap it.
An “ICE detainer”—or “immigration
hold”—has been a controversial tool U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) routinely uses to apprehend
individuals who come in contact with local
and state law enforcement agencies. An
ICE detainer is a written request that a local
jail or other law enforcement agency detain |
an individual for an additional 48 hours after
his or her release date, for the convenience
of ICE agents sp that they can decide
whether to take the individual into federal
custody and begin formal deportation
proceedings. The detainers generally are
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enforcement, or any government official,
enough to report incidents of crime or come
forward as a witness. This entanglement is
harmful to everyone in our community.
The ACLU has been heavily involved in
AMÉRICA!
this issue in Oregon and around the country
for several years. At our urging and that of
Becky Straus is thelegislative director with the .
our partners in the ACT Network, a group
, A C L U o f Oregon. She directs advocacy and
of organizations collaborating to limifrpohce/
lobbying efforts before the Oregon Legislature
ICE collaboration, Multnomah County
a n d is the ACLU-s prim ary lobbyist on City o f ,
Sheriff Staton took a positive but small step
. Portland m atters.
forward when he implemented a policy in
2013 to limit the instances in which his
not; accompanied with a warrant based on
probable cause.
office would honor an ICE detainer. This
more recent decision from Staton and other
Detainers raise serious constitutional
sheriffs is to suspend this harmful practice
concerns by depriving individuals of
altogether unless ICE provides probable
freedom without due process of law and, in
most cases, without probable cause of any
cause for the prolonged detention in the
form of a judicial warrant.
criminal act Moreover, state and local
Sheriff Staton’s action demonstrates that
corrections officials frequently violate the
he listened to the concerns of the
48-hour limitation by continuing to hold
community and responded by setting
individuals beyond, the period requested.
priorities that are in everyone’s best
Detainers have resulted in the illegal
interest.
•
imprisonment of countless individuals—
These new detainer policies dovetail with
including U.S. citizens, lawful permanent
several recent federal court decisions that
residents,-and Latinos in particular—without
any charges pending, sometimes for days or • have highlighted the serious constitutional
problems with ICE detainers. Here in
weeks after they should have otherwise
Oregon, a Clackamas County federal judge
been released from custody.
I immigration detainers undermine public
ruled in the case of Miranda-Olivares v.
Clackamas County that the county was
safety and community trust in police. And
legally responsible for imprisoning a woman
they often catch victims and witnesses of
on an ICE detainer in violation of the Fourth
crime in their net. When members, of the
Amendment. A new detainer policy in
community believe that any encounter with
Philadelphia came on the heels of the Third
local law enforcement may result in contact
'with federal immigration enforcement, those Circuit Federal Appeals Court’s decision in’
the ACLU’s case, Galarza v. Szalczyk, which
individuals are less likely to trust law
recognized that ICE detainers are merely
requests, not orders — and that if states and
localities choose to detain people on that
basis, they can be liable in court for violating
the Constitution. Similarly; in Morales v.
Chadboume, another ACLU case, the
federal court in Rhode Island held that both
state and federal Officials bore responsibility
for detaining a U.S. citizen on an ICE
detainer without an adequate legal basis.
In September of 2012 the ACLU
challenged the practice of honoring ICE
holds in Multnomah County, arguing to a
state court judge that it was in violation of
state law. ORS 181.850 prohibits local law
enforcement agencies from expending
resources on federal immigration
enforcement efforts. That case is ongoing
and currently is pending in the Oregon
Court of Appeals.
The Obama Administration recently hit
the dubious milestone of deporting 2 million
people in just five years - a record it
achieved in no small part by leaning on state
and local law enforcement agencies. In
particular, ICE has funneled hundreds of
thousands of people into the deportation
pipeline by issuing immigration “detainers.”
The ACLU has long argued that
imprisonment on an ICE detainer alone—
without a warrant or any criminal charges
pending—violates-the Constitution.
Let us take a moment and celebrate this
momentous progress in counties across our
state and thank these sheriffs for doing the
right thing.
Join us for a Portland Community Commons with
Thom
Hartmann
And Community Friends*
The Crash of2016
and the transformational
opportunities it will provide
Write a page, I said. Let it
come out of you. Then it will
be true.
Friday. May 2nd, 7pm
First Unitarian Church
SW 12th & Main St
Portland
by Debra Knauf
What do they think when they hear that—
this kaleidoscope of young faces before me?
They look at me-middle-aged white women-
and wonder if I’ll, understand their truths.
Their truths are hard-inner-city, gangs, drugs, poverty,
shootings, and killings on street corners,
escape the champagne wish,
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I’ve seen their stories on the news, but I haven’t lived them.
I’m no stranger to poverty, but I’m white
-w hite bread, white wine
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Poor and white is not poor and black,
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They’re right: I won’t know their truths.
They don’t know mine either.
I could tell them that escape is possible-
but they won’t want to hear the rest of that truth.
You can get out but you can’t leave behind who you are.
Poverty is a bomb in the brain you’ll never diffuse
Diamond studs wink at me from their ears;
their faces remain carefully blank,
and our lives tick away.
I tell them we can m eet on the page
But I don’t know if I believe it myself.
Order e-books and print copies at
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streetroots.org/iamnotapoet
Doors open at 6:30 PM
Admission: $5-$20
No one turned away.
"Although we are in the midst of what could become the most
catastrophic economic crash in American history, a way forward is
emerging. The choices we make now will redefine American culture."
’ -Thom Hartmann, The Crash of 2016
Evening will include focal individuals and
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e replace and reform many of our unjust and
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Sponsored by:
Economic Justice Action Group of
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