Why Local Law Enforcement Should Not Be Coerced To Act as ICE Agents

Why should local law enforcement in Colorado’s cities avoid being involved in immigration enforcement? Colorado Public Radio recently covered the matter in a recent piece called Sanctuary Cities in Colorado, and How They May Face Problems from Trump. The story touches on the problems with coercing local police to act as ICE agents. Below are my own thoughts on the many problems caused by such tactics and the reasons Colorado’s cities have reason to push back on immigration enforcement.

It is not the job of local police to enforce immigration laws.

Immigration policy and enforcement is delegated by the Constitution to our federal government, not the states, for obvious reasons including uniformity and international relations. Uniform immigration policy is a critical component of national sovereignty. Imagine what would happen if every state had their own immigration policy.

Local cities are not paid by the federal government to enforce immigration laws.

For years, ICE attempted to “enlist” local authorities to help them do their job, without paying them a dime for this extra work. This work exposed local governments to huge lawsuits since some of ICE’s policies have been ruled unconstitutional (namely, continuing to hold people in jails AFTER they finished their sentences so ICE agents could interview and potentially arrest them).

Local police are not trained to enforce our immigration laws.

There are many immigration professionals (ICE agents, immigration attorneys, etc.) who still struggle with the complexities of immigration law. Given how complicated immigration law is, it seems particularly inappropriate to ask local law police to help enforce these laws.

Many local police forces believe harsh enforcement tactics will adversely affect their communities.

Our federalist system explicitly allows disagreement between states and the federal government. Many local police do not want to call ICE on individuals that have little or no criminal history in their communities. They understand that such enforcement measures may have dramatic negative effects on the community as a whole such as less effective law enforcement (immigrants will not want to cooperate or report crimes to the police) and negative economic impacts due to fear and workplace disruption.

Looking Ahead to 2017

Whether Trump resurrects ineffective and often unconstitutional programs of coercing local enforcement to enforce immigration laws remains to be seen. All of us with interests in this issue are anxiously awaiting January 20th, the day he takes office. If you have any questions related to this issue or whether it makes sense to pursue a particular immigration path now, please give us a call at (303) 872-6985. We would be happy to evaluate your situation during these uncertain times.