Carroll County Sheriff Jim DeWees is advocating for the implementation of the 287(g) program at the Carroll County Detention Center, a move that has sparked debate among lawmakers.
The 287(g) program, which began in 1996, allows specially trained law enforcement officers to assist in immigration enforcement, focusing on jail enforcement and warrant service.
DeWees explained the program’s benefits, stating, “I honestly think every detention center in the country should be involved in 287(g) because it’s nondiscriminatory. It looks at everyone’s individual’s immigration status.”
The sheriff detailed the process, saying, “If there’s a detainer or a warrant for them, we applied for a program where we can go through and work with ICE, go through the process in the database, get a warrant sent to us and then serve that warrant for ICE so that they don’t have to physically come up here and do that, and then work with them from that point forward to put them into ICE’s custody within a period of time.”
While the program is already in use in three other Maryland counties, it faces opposition from Democratic lawmakers who are pushing for HB 1222, a bill that seeks to terminate all existing immigration enforcement collaborations between local law enforcement and ICE.
DeWees criticized the opposition, saying, “Right now it’s in limbo because HB 1222 has made its way over to the Senate at Crossover, and now the Senate needs to take a look at it and see if it’s a passable bill.”
DeWees argued that the program is misunderstood, emphasizing, “This is not law enforcement going out into the community with ICE and grabbing people up and saying, ‘You don’t look like you belong here.’”
He further clarified misconceptions, stating, “I think people think that people are showing up at a jail and are immediately being deported, that couldn’t be any further from the truth.”
The sheriff also noted that the program is not limited to individuals from the southern border, saying, “So you can be here from Australia, the United Kingdom, it doesn’t matter.”
DeWees defended the program as a matter of law enforcement, asserting, “They’ve already violated the law by merely coming across the border and being here illegally, so they violated federal law.”
“It’s funny because the jurisdictions that are sponsoring this legislation, they all have police officers in their community, in their county and in their jurisdictions that work as task force officers with the FBI, DEA, Homeland Security, US Marshall, and they seem to be ok with that. But they don’t seem to be ok with us communicating with ICE to deport people that are here illegally, that have committed a crime in our country. Make it make sense for me,” said DeWees.
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