The American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware sent a letter to police agencies and local elected officials March 27 outlining the dangers of acting as President Donald Trump’s immigration deportation force.
Local law enforcement are not obligated under federal law to participate in immigration enforcement and face potential legal liability for doing so, according to the letter.
The Trump administration has threatened to strip federal funds from jurisdictions that decline to direct local personnel and resources toward federal immigration priorities. However, prior court decisions indicate that the administration will encounter hurdles if it attempts to follow through on that pledge.
In particular, the ACLU raised concerns over local law enforcement compliance with Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers or written requests that local law enforcement detain an individual for an additional 48 hours after they would otherwise be released. ICE detainers are typically issued without a judicial warrant supported by probable cause. As a result, once the traditional basis for criminal detention of an individual has lapsed, continued detention violates the Fourth Amendment’s bar on unlawful detentions.
Detainers have been placed on people not subject to removal, including U.S. citizens. Here in Delaware, from 2003 to 2015, ICE issued 84 ICE detainers without knowing whether the individual was a U.S. citizen. Federal courts around the nation have held ICE and local law enforcement agencies liable for unconstitutional detentions under ICE detainers.
The ACLU also raised concerns over participation in the 287(g) program, under which local police officers perform federal immigration enforcement functions. This includes interrogating and arresting suspected noncitizens encountered in the field who they believe may be subject to deportation. This policy encourages officers to racially profile people on the streets and guess at their immigration status based on appearance or accent. It transforms local police into federal immigration agents, but without the federal funds to cover all of the expenses incurred by the local jurisdiction, and without the same level of training that federal agents receive.