Chief Harold Hurtt went to Washington and sounded off on the local enforcement aspects of 287(g) that the Houston Police Officers Union and hate group Border Watch support.
Hurtt said the department has applied for 287(g) training for Houston police to use federal immigration databases but only to check on those booked into the city’s two jails.
He said he favors that portion of the program but is opposed to the street-level phase of the federal immigration law, allowing local and state police to make immigration arrests and process offenders for deportation.
The yearlong study of 287(g) by the nonpartisan Police Foundation was critical of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement program, concluding it erodes law enforcement’s public safety mission, diverts scarce resources, increases exposure to liability to charges of racial profiling, and heightens fear in communities.
“Immigration enforcement by local police is counterproductive to community policing efforts. It undermines the trust and cooperation of immigrant communities, could lead to charges of racial profiling, and increases our response time to urgent calls for service,” Hurtt said during a Capitol Hill press event in Washington.
In an interview after the news conference, Hurtt said Houston’s participation in 287(g) was a decision Mayor Bill White made after an illegal immigrant shot Houston police officer Rick Salter while he was serving a search warrant this year.
“The mayor, he was the point man on this. It was his idea, and, of course, he consulted with members of the department,” Hurtt said, adding that he supports the screening in city jails.
Meanwhile, the Mayor’s mouthpiece seems to be narrowing their language.
“The chief and the mayor are in agreement with all this — the mayor agrees with the chief’s comments (in Washington) today, and the chief agrees with participation in the 287 program in the jail,” said Frank Michel, White’s director of communications. “We want to target people who are deportable felons and prey on our community. Neither the chief or the major would see anything inconsistent in that.”
But is this true? From what those of us in the pro-migrant community hear, anyone with a Class C misdemeanor is being targeted for an immigration check. Of course, they are being checked for immigration detainers, which are almost always because of civil infractions of immigration regulations–not criminal violations. So, it would seem that Mayor White needs to clear the air on this whole “deportable felons” line.
Another issue is the cost of such a program. In a time when the City is not in the best financial shape, should the City be in the business of enforcing civil violations? If so, should Mayor White then let the dogs loose on environmental violations, instead of EPA?
Hurtt said joining the jail program will require the assignment of 22 police officers to receive the federal training and cost an estimated $1.5 million to $2 million a year to operate. The chief also said the department pledged years ago it would not allow officers to question residents at random about their immigration status.
“I don’t want my guys out on the street trying to determine which of 32 different visas” an immigrant might be issued is valid, Hurtt said. “I want them to concentrate on keeping Houston safe from thieves, drug dealers, sex offenders, and making sure we maintain the trust and support of everybody who lives in Houston, and that means members of the immigrant community we serve.”
Blankinship from HPOU on the other hand, seems to continue to take marching orders from the Spring-based hate group, Border Watch.
It is quite obvious that Mayor White must cease and desist on 287(g).
