Sheriff’s Office To Partner With Federal Immigration Enforcement

Sheriff James M. Cummings received a letter Wednesday from Corey A. Price, ICE’s assistant director of enforcement, that his application for participation in Section 287(g) has been approved.

This approval authorizes the US Department of Homeland Security to deputize selected state and local law enforcement officers to enforce selected federal immigration law.

Barnstable County correctional officers will have direct access to search ICE databases to determine if prisoners being held at the county correctional facility, on or without bail, are in the country illegally and should be detained. If the prisoners are found to be undocumented, the county could begin an immigration hearing process, which could lead to deportation.

The sheriff’s offices in Bristol and Plymouth counties are also working with ICE under Section 287(g).

The goal of this program, the statement said, is to enhance public safety by identifying undocumented immigrants, lodging immigration detainees and initiating removal proceedings by issuing charging documents on potentially deportable criminal undocumented immigrants booked into the jail facility.

“The 287(g) program is all about identifying criminality, not nationality,” Sheriff Cummings said. “The 287(g) agreement we requested to be a part of operates under a jail enforcement model, which functions solely within the confines of our jail in Bourne.”

Under this model, an undocumented immigrant must first be arrested by local law enforcement on other criminal charges and brought to the facility before any 287(g) screening activity takes place, Sheriff Cummings said.

“We look forward to working closely with our ICE partners to improve the public safety of Cape Cod,” he added.

The statement also listed several cases the sheriff’s office has referred to ICE since January 1, 2016, with names excluded in accordance with state criminal offender record information laws.

These included a Brazilian citizen who is serving a one-year sentence at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility for photographing the sexual or intimate parts of a child and possessing child pornography. Also, a Romanian citizen served a one-year sentence for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and leaving the scene of personal injury as well as a two-year sentence for reckless operation of a motor vehicle and kidnapping.

Among the critics of the sheriff’s office’s taking part in the ICE program is the Cape Cod Coalition for Safe Communities, an ad hoc group of Cape Cod citizens that wrote on its Facebook page that it is “committed to justice and human rights for all, with a focus on the safety and well-being of undocumented people in our community.”

“This is the outcome we were expecting, as expanding the 287(g) program has become a priority for ICE,” a spokesperson for the coalition said Thursday, December 21. “We think it’s important for people to understand what this means: 287(g) agreements represent a serious concern for us all because they erode the constitutional concept of equal treatment and due process. We remain committed to engaging the community in standing up for those rights and passing the Safe Communities Act, which would nullify any such 287(g) agreements statewide.”

The group, which meets regularly at the Federated Church in East Orleans, is developing a response to the ICE advisory board.