- United States
- Texas
- Letter
Shut down the 287(g) program and defund ICE's detention operations immediately. What started as 32 local agency partnerships has exploded to over 1,000 in just eight months — a 600% increase that has turned local police into a deportation force and locked people in a detention camp in the Florida Everglades that the ACLU is currently suing over. These are not abstract policy concerns. People are being held in inhumane conditions, and U.S. citizens have been wrongfully detained because of this program.
This isn't just a civil liberties issue — it's a public safety disaster. Studies show communities stop calling 911 when they fear immigration consequences. Law enforcement leaders themselves oppose 287(g) as a drain on local resources. ICE is now paying local police cash to locate immigrants and has recruited campus police and the Florida Department of Lottery Services as enforcement partners. Delaware banned these agreements statewide after public outcry. Other states should follow, and Congress should act to end this program entirely and close these detention facilities now.