Knox County Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones has said for months that the county applied for the controversial U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s 287(g) program to help reduce the county’s jail population and to save the county money by holding undocumented immigrant inmates for less time.

While the 287(g) program may accomplish these goals, the county failed to list either as reasons why officials are interested in the program in its needs assessment submitted to ICE in December.

KCSO Capt. Terry Wilshire, who filled out the paperwork, wrote that the program will be used to fight illegal immigration. The application also estimates the 287(g) program will allow the county to process and turn in up to 1,800 aliens to ICE a year.

The application sheds light on the county’s plans for the 287(g) program.

“Partnership with ICE to combat illegal immigration, especially illegal aliens committing criminal acts with prior criminal records. Assist with identification and removal proceedings of those criminal aliens who have deportation proceedings and are arrested for local crimes,” the application states.

Jones, who announced his candidacy for Knox County mayor earlier this month, declined to be interviewed on the phone or in person. He responded Friday to a list of five emailed questions.

"We will talk further about 287(g) when ICE either approves or disapproves the program for Knox County. We have fully vetted the program not only for you, but for all the media outlets. You may recall that I told you that Knox County was approved for the program a few years ago but was told there were no funds available due to sequestration. I talked openly with you about all aspects of the program and will do so again when we have been approved or denied 287(g)," Jones wrote in an email.

What is 287(g)?

The program deputizes local law enforcement officials to act on behalf of and in place of federal immigration authorities in exchange for training and funding.

Once someone has been arrested, ICE will flag the individual for removal and decide to request a detainer, or hold, on the person. The 287(g) program allows local law enforcement to decide who goes into deportation proceedings. A federal immigration judge ultimately decides who will be deported.

ICE places detainers on undocumented immigrants who have been arrested on local criminal charges and for whom ICE has probable cause to believe are removable from the United States, according to an ICE spokesperson. The detainers are put in place so ICE can take custody of the individual when he or she is released from local custody.

By the numbers

The Knox County Jail takes in approximately 27,000 inmates a year, 1,600 of whom are foreign-born, according to the application. The application estimates Knox County will identify, process and turn over 150 aliens to ICE per month, or 1,800 aliens a year, if approved for the 287(g) program.

The application language from ICE uses the term alien, defined as "any person not a citizen or national of the United States."

Knox County's application states the county currently holds approximately 20 aliens on federal detainers for ICE every month, which is about 240 annually. But an April 20 email from Wilshire to Jones, provided to the Tennessee chapter of the ACLU following the group's records request, said Knox County detained 81 undocumented immigrants in 2016, releasing 75 to ICE. In 2011, the county detained 309, releasing 243 to ICE: in 2015, the county detained 65 and released 59 to ICE.

“Seeing those numbers (in the application) is incredibly chilling and will send a very scary message to immigrant families in Knox County,” said Stephanie Teatro, co-director of the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition, which helped organize a 287(g) protest earlier this month.

Teatro said Nashville, which has a much larger immigrant population, had 10,000 people deported in the five years the program was used.

The process of taking in and processing undocumented immigrants can take up to three weeks at $100 a day, Jones has said, and the 287(g) program would allow for faster processing times which will save the county money.

Jones, in a May 2 interview with USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee, said people won’t be asked their immigration status on simple traffic stops.

The top five arrest charges for foreign-born criminals, according to the application, include offenses like driving under the influence, driving without a valid license and public intoxication.

“I’m not against people coming here to make a better living or to help their families,” he said on May 2. “What I want them to do is do the same things you and I have to do. We have to follow the law.”

The application also estimates there are 100 foreign-born gang members in Knox County including Sureno-13, Mexican Mafia, MS-13, Nortenos, Kurdish Pride, Brown Pride, Asian Pride, Johnny-Boys, Laos Boys, German Outlaw and Triad. The application estimated the county sees approximately 30 fraudulent documents and 30 counterfeit goods (immigration documents, Social Security cards, visas and passports) every month.

Local impact

Jones also said on May 2 that there would be 10-15 officers trained by ICE.

If residents, illegal or not, don’t break the law, he said, then they have nothing to worry about under the 287(g) program. Additionally, he said, there will be no “task force” rounding up immigrants.

“We’re not looking to split up any homes,” he said. “This is merely for the jail process; it is monetarily beneficial to the taxpayers of Knox County.”

Immigrant rights groups have fought the 287(g) program tooth and nail and have argued it will harm the relationship between local law enforcement and the immigrant and minority communities in Knox County. Groups have also said the program will increase the chance immigrant and other minorities will be racially profiled.

Teatro said the numbers in the application are “incredibly high bars to set,” and it places fear in Knoxville families.

But Jones has said the county’s application is for the 287(g) detention model, and deputies will not be roaming the streets looking for undocumented immigrants.

He said he knows the stigma surrounding the 287(g) program, but said his deputies will not misuse the program as long as he is sheriff.

“I would tell you that community trust with any minority is hard for any law enforcement agency to get,” Jones said. “We work very hard in those communities to gain that trust … and I think they trust us. I think they know me, I think they know (Knoxville Police Chief) David (Rausch) and they trust us to do just what I said: be good stewards and make sure there are no shortcuts taken and make sure there are no prejudices, no biases and no racial profiling.”

History

ICE denied Knox County’s first request in 2013, writing in a letter to Jones that the agency had frozen expansion of the program because of the across-the-board federal budget cuts called for under sequestration.

At the time Jones called the explanation a “smokescreen” and vowed to enforce federal immigration laws anyway.

“If need be,” he said in a statement, “I will stack these violators like cordwood in the Knox County jail until the appropriate federal agency responds.”

Currently, there are 41 287(g) agreements across the country, but none in the state of Tennessee. Metro Nashville was previously part of the 287(g) program, but left it in Oct. 2012. Donald Trump signed an executive order reviving the program.