287(g) Agreements Make Undocumenteds Target for Abuse

A Charlotte man is facing deportation because he called 911 to report a cop who was molesting his girlfriend. He was arrested for interfering and resisting arrest. The cop was found to be guilty, but because of the sheriff office's 287(g) agreement, the undocumented immigrant is being deported back to Mexico.

And while 287(g) agreements were designed to be used to allow local law enforcement to begin deportation proceedings and clear out their jails, news reports have demonstrated that law enforcement agents are searching for small offenses that will allow victims to be arrested and then deported. One tactic used by law enforcement is to say that the undocumented immigrants gave false information when reporting the crime.

We already know that undocumented immigrant communities are targets for swindling by their employers, and that they underreport crimes for fear of being deported. With a growing number of local agencies signing 287(g) agreements with ICE and the anti-immigration and xenophobic voices getting louder, immigrants will become even greater targets for criminals who know that the undocumented community will be too afraid to seek help.

But do sexual predators and criminals really know who is and who isn't undocumented?  Of course not.  This problem, like the recent law passed in Arizona, isn't just something for those without papers to worry about.  If you "look a certain way," Arizona's law and 287(g) agreements mean you may be profiled by law enforcement and criminals alike.  And regardless of your documentation status, everyone's public safety is affected when crime goes unreported out of fear, and law enforcement agents are forced to become ICE agents instead of focusing on protecting our communities.