Immigrant Groups Say Sheriff's New ICE Policy Doesn't Go Far Enough

By ANDREA DAMEWOOD

Eight immigrant rights groups say that Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Staton's proposed plans to stop honoring U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement detainers for low-level criminals doesn't go nearly far enough.

"Multnomah County's practice of honoring ICE holds erodes our communities' trust in law enforcement, tears families apart, lends to racial and ethnic profiling, and violates basic principles of due process," the statement reads. "While Sheriff Staton's compromise proposal mitigates some of those harms; it does not eliminate them."

Among the signatories is Causa Oregon, whose executive director, Francisco Lopez, told WW on Wednesday that the new policies were "a good compromise."

WW reported Wednesday that Staton is prepared to ignore federal requests to put holds on undocumented immigrants brought to his jails for nonviolent misdemeanors. Most county jails in the United States follow a program called Secure Communities, where local jails share fingerprints with the FBI, who in turn gives them to ICE. The agency can then ask counties to hold the prisoner for up to two business days.

Staton's new policies would be a shift from total compliance with ICE, but the department would still keep inmates who were brought in for felonies and violent misdemeanors, and also honor detainers if ICE could prove a prior serious criminal record. Other areas, including Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City have completely rejected all ICE requests.

Here's the full text of today's statement from the ACT network:

WWeek 2015

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.