IdeaLog

States and localities shouldn’t cooperate with ICE detainers

Posted on February 4, 2025

Right now, some Democrats are trying to “move to the right” on immigration. Some are supporting legislation to undo “sanctuary” policies that have blocked state or local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE detainers. That is a mistake.

Under federal law, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can issue an “immigration detainer,” requesting a state or local law enforcement agency to hold an individual in custody for 48 hours so that ICE can come and take that individual to an ICE detention facility. To be clear, the U.S. Code makes such cooperation voluntary. So-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions which do not honor immigration detainers are operating entirely within their rights under federal law. And after all, localities know best how to use their own police and jails.

If a city refuses to cooperate with an immigration detainer, that doesn’t at all effect ICE’s ability to take custody of the named individual, it just means the locality doesn’t want to participate in the detainer system. And they have good reasons for that.

When immigrants believe that local law enforcement agents are involved in the enforcement of federal immigration law, immigrants – fearing harassment or deportation – simply decline to report crimes or suspicious activity. The result is twofold: criminals see immigrants as easy prey, and violent criminals who could have been caught will remain on the streets, putting everyone in the state at risk of becoming the next victim. As a Hopium Chronicles reader explained:

“My daughter-in-law is a prosecutor. Victims of crime and witnesses are now not showing up for court dates and/or preparation because they are afraid ICE will seize them at the courthouse. That means cases can’t be prosecuted and that means criminals stay free to commit more crimes.”

Many state and local law enforcement agencies have tried for years to gain or retain the trust of unauthorized immigrants so they will report crimes and act as witnesses, helping lower crime rates. And many such agencies have succeeded in earning widespread trust. But if bills like New Hampshire’s HB 511 are enacted, you can be sure that immigrants will consider it too dangerous to talk to any police or law enforcement staffer under any circumstance.

That is because, such legislation makes cooperation with ICE immigration detainers mandatory. So, if an immigrant on the ICE’s list is placed under arrest somewhere in the jurisdiction, they will be turned over to ICE. And then they’re going to disappear into the opaque immigration detention system where prisoners have very few rights.

Understand that someone who is arrested by an officer is not necessarily guilty; they haven’t had any chance to defend themselves yet. Still, if they’re on the ICE list, they are gone, even if they’re entirely innocent of the arrest charge. In this case, innocent people will probably be deported; their life and their family’s lives will be completely destroyed.

Also, the arrest might be for a truly minor offense, or an eyewitnesses’ mistake (extremely common), or made in bad faith, that is, either someone doesn’t like the immigrant and makes a false crime report or the police officer doesn’t like that immigrant, or immigrants in general, and arrests him just to get him deported. The potential for abuse is gigantic.

Right now, ICE agents are under great pressure to arrest as many immigrants as possible; Donald Trump set a quota of at least 1,200 arrests per day. Even if ICE wanted to be fair and accurate in making arrests, it’s not going to happen while rushing to meet quotas. In addition, Trump has called for a new detention camp housing 30,000 at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Sending immigrants to Gitmo is “a transparent attempt to avoid legal oversight” so they can be abused any way Trump wants to. “Trump’s decision to use Guantánamo – global symbol and site of lawlessness, torture, and racism – to house immigrants should horrify us all,” said Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

The bottom line is this – do you want to play the collaborator with blood on your hands? Because, aside from the horrors Trump and ICE will inflict on these people, they will be deported to countries that most fled because they were going to die there. If sent back, a great many will die.