Underutilized Law Enforcement Tool Finally Gaining Some Traction And Can Aid CT Efforts

By Bill West

On September 17, the Family Security Foundation ran an excellent article concerning the little known “Section 287(g)” provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). What is particularly interesting about “287(g)” is that it has existed as Federal law in its current state since 1996 yet has been largely ignored by the mainstream media and many government bureaucrats, especially the ones with the ability to make effective policy changes.

Section 287(g) is the INA section that allows Federal immigration law enforcement authorities, now the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) via Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), to grant Federal immigration enforcement authority to state and local law enforcement officers under certain specific circumstances. This provision, potentially, provides a powerful enforcement enhancement tool in the effort against illegal immigration. Given the political hot potato that is immigration enforcement, at least in the minds of the liberal elites and much of the MSM, 287(g) has managed to remain mostly buried from public scrutiny for all these years. It is now seeing some light of day.

The first 287(g) effort came shortly after the 9/11 attacks and was a joint project between the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). The project focused not on generalized immigration law enforcement but specifically on domestic security investigations within the state of Florida involving foreign nationals. That project, and it still exists under DHS/ICE, has been highly successful. There have been a limited number of other 287(g) projects around the country since, and all have basically worked well, but they have been limited in scope and mostly focused on identifying criminal aliens or those involved in smuggling operations.

Ironically, those successful 287(g) projects have received little fanfare. They deserve public notice and support because they work. Such efforts should be expanded. The program noted in the Family Security Foundation article will be one to follow. If it succeeds in New York state, hopefully it will be an example for others in areas formerly deemed “illegal alien friendly.”

Beyond the larger general immigration enforcement issues involved, these 287(g) projects can be especially effective when focused on security and terrorism related matters. As the original Florida project so successfully demonstrated, the delegation of immigration enforcement authority to state and local officers who are engaged primarily in multi-agency task force investigations targeting suspected security and terror threats brings that enhanced and expanded authority to bear against the most significant potential alien threat population and has the added benefit of yielding the least potential criticism. This focus arguably provides the best initial use of state and local enforcement resources within these programs. Demonstrated success at the security/terror level may then lead to more generalized acceptance of expanded 287(g) efforts within a given community, particularly among otherwise reluctant political leaders.

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