Failed 287(g) Program Leads to Racial Profiling and Should Not Be Renewed, ACLU Says

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org

WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union today called for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to end its 287(g) program, which delegates federal immigration authority to state and local law enforcement agencies nationwide. The controversial program has been critiqued by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general, the Government Accountability Office and the Migration Policy Institute. The program has also been severely criticized by civil rights groups for promoting racial profiling of Latinos. Nearly all of the 287(g) agreements are set to expire on or around September 30 unless renewed by ICE.

“The time has come for DHS and ICE to end this failed program once and for all,” said Joanne Lin, ACLU legislative counsel. “Infamous sheriffs, including Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona and Alamance Sheriff Terry Johnson in North Carolina, have used the 287(g) program to target Latinos for traffic stops, to arrest Latinos for minor traffic violations and to establish checkpoints near Latino neighborhoods. It is time for DHS and ICE to get out of the business of partnering with sheriffs who use racial epithets and foster a culture of racial bias.”

The ACLU joined faith, labor, immigration advocacy and other civil rights organizations in sending a letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and ICE Director John Morton urging them to terminate the 287(g) program. The letter explains that the program damages the integrity of ICE’s operations by lacking “transparency and federal oversight, leaving the program susceptible to inefficiencies, insufficiently-monitored racial profiling, and pretextual arrests by law enforcement agencies.”

The letter is available at: