Sheriff Joseph Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., accused by the Justice Department of "discrimination against Latinos," is having his illegal immigration law enforcement capabilities drastically curtailed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which will enforce illegal immigration laws according to DHS's less aggressive priorities.
"Discrimination undermines law enforcement and erodes the public trust," Napolitano said early this afternoon. "DHS will not be a party to such practices. Accordingly, and effective immediately, DHS is terminating [Maricopa County Sheriff's Office] MCSO’s 287(g) jail model agreement and is restricting the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office access to the Secure Communities program."
"The 287(g) jail model agreement is the program which allows officers to screen individuals they arrest for immigration status and put detainers on them once they have been booked into jail," according to Talking Points Memo. The Secure Communities program is an information-sharing process that allows the Federal Bureau of Investigations to cross-reference finger prints submitted by local law enforcement with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement database to determine if the arrested person is an illegal immigrant. Maricopa County will no longer have the ability to submit such finger prints to the FBI.
DHS will now enforce illegal immigration laws in a more targeted manner, "focus[ing] our resources on criminal aliens, recent border crossers, repeat and egregious immigration law violators and employers who knowingly hire illegal labor."
