What Happened to the Worst of the Worst?: NYT Says “Pull the Plug on 287(g)”

America's Voice Blog

Posted 04/09/10 at 02:21pm

An editorial in today’s New York Times adds to a week of attacks on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), since last Friday’s release of a new report by the agency’s Inspector General that slams the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

According to the Times’ analysis of the OIG report:

The [287(g)] program lacks basic safeguards like data collection and reporting requirements to ensure that deputies don’t violate civil rights. The report also found that fewer than 10 percent of its sample of captured offenders had committed serious “Level 1” crimes, and almost half had no connection at all to violence, drugs or property crimes.

The report reinforces what a leading police association and police chiefs, including William Bratton of Los Angeles, have argued strenuously — that 287(g) undermines public safety. Police officers can’t fight crimes when communities they serve fear and avoid them.

That’s right, fewer than 10 percent had committed serious crimes, despite claims from DHS that they are targeting the “worst of the worst” criminal offenders. Local police leaders themselves are increasingly speaking out against policies that would have them rounding up hard-working immigrants in their communities, rather than focusing on criminals who represent a real threat. The editorial concludes:

We are skeptical that the 287(g) program can ever be fixed. And we are sure that the returns are too low and the costs — in abuses and undermining law enforcement — are too high to make it worth trying. The Homeland Security Department should pull the plug on 287(g).