News & Commentary

Kate Huddleston, Equal Justice Works Fellow, ACLU of Texas

This

While on duty in 2017, Border Patrol agent Matthew Bowen was driving in a government-issued pickup truck when he saw Antolin Rolando Lopez-Aguilar, a migrant from Guatemala, attempting to cross into the United States.

“Look at the camera,” a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer told me as I approached the primary inspection point at the Paso del Norte port of entry.

The view from the Matamoros, Mexico side of the Rio Grande — just across from Brownsville, Texas — reveals an unsettling scene.

Immigration and immigrants’ rights are hot button topics for civil rights supporters in Texas, but during the 86th Texas Legislature, our elected officials reviewed a lot of policy yet did very little on the issues. 

Participating in the program undermines community trust
and safety.When sheriff's deputies engage in immigration enforcement, fewer people
report crimes for fear of being deported, thus jeopardizing community safety and trust. In fact, a study
of how increased police involvement with immigration enforcement found
70 percent
of undocumented immigrants are less likely to contact authorities about a crime they have witnessed or endured
for fear of being asked about their immigration status or worse, being taken into custody. By ending 287(g)
programs, undocumented immigrants and their loved ones that reside in the community will feel safer from
incrimination and will not have to be silent victims. 

Prioritizing immigration enforcement neglects fighting violent crime.

Community safety also becomes less of a priority when law enforcement uses their time and resources to
participate in immigration enforcement rather than combating violent, more urgent crime in their community.
Counties already struggle with funding local law enforcement operations; branching out to act as a deportation
arm will stretch already limited resources such as jail space. 

287(g) agreements drain county finances.
Participating in the 287(g) program costs counties a significant sum of money.
According to the American Immigration Council’s analysis on 287(g),
state and local governments sustain most of the program’s costs.