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Arrested Illegal Immigrants Sue U.S. Over 287(g)
Last Updated: Fri, 10/15/2010 - 11:48am
In a remarkably contemptuous move, three illegal immigrants marked for deportation after committing crimes are suing the U.S. government over the program that targeted them for removal.
The illegal aliens live in Georgia’s Cobb County, which has a population of about 600,000, and were discovered to be undocumented after getting arrested by local police for state crimes. One got booked after car crash for not having a driver’s license, another for shoplifting and the other for felony forgery.
Thanks to a local-federal partnership known as 287(g), the illegal immigrant criminals were reported to federal authorities for removal. The program has been effective in reducing violent crime in local communities and aiding in the deportation of tens of thousands of criminal illegal aliens who would otherwise fall through the cracks.
But 287(g) is unconstitutional because it “impermissibly delegates federal powers to local authorities with insufficient oversight,” according to the illegal immigrants’ attorney. Not only has Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) improperly delegated power, it has failed to train, supervise and otherwise oversee the sheriff’s deputies in Cobb County, according to the complaint which was filed in Atlanta Federal Court this week.
Among the defendants are ICE Director John Morton, Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren, a Georgia Department of Public Safety investigator and other state officials. The illegal immigrants’ attorney seeks to make it a class action that includes “all Hispanic persons who have been or will be restrained and interrogated within the state of Georgia” under 287(g).
While this marks the first lawsuit against the local-federal partnership, the program has been repeatedly challenged by open borders advocates who claim it exacerbates racial profiling. Last year several politically-connected immigrant rights groups urged President Obama to terminate all 287(g) partnerships because local law enforcement agencies nationwide are using it to target “communities of color.”
Arrested Illegal Immigrants Sue U.S. Over 287(g)
Last Updated: Fri, 10/15/2010 - 11:48am
In a remarkably contemptuous move, three illegal immigrants marked for deportation after committing crimes are suing the U.S. government over the program that targeted them for removal.
The illegal aliens live in Georgia’s Cobb County, which has a population of about 600,000, and were discovered to be undocumented after getting arrested by local police for state crimes. One got booked after car crash for not having a driver’s license, another for shoplifting and the other for felony forgery.
Thanks to a local-federal partnership known as 287(g), the illegal immigrant criminals were reported to federal authorities for removal. The program has been effective in reducing violent crime in local communities and aiding in the deportation of tens of thousands of criminal illegal aliens who would otherwise fall through the cracks.
But 287(g) is unconstitutional because it “impermissibly delegates federal powers to local authorities with insufficient oversight,” according to the illegal immigrants’ attorney. Not only has Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) improperly delegated power, it has failed to train, supervise and otherwise oversee the sheriff’s deputies in Cobb County, according to the complaint which was filed in Atlanta Federal Court this week.
Among the defendants are ICE Director John Morton, Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren, a Georgia Department of Public Safety investigator and other state officials. The illegal immigrants’ attorney seeks to make it a class action that includes “all Hispanic persons who have been or will be restrained and interrogated within the state of Georgia” under 287(g).
While this marks the first lawsuit against the local-federal partnership, the program has been repeatedly challenged by open borders advocates who claim it exacerbates racial profiling. Last year several politically-connected immigrant rights groups urged President Obama to terminate all 287(g) partnerships because local law enforcement agencies nationwide are using it to target “communities of color.”
