Ending East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office 287(g) Agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Re: Ending East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office 287(g) Agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Dear Sheriff Gautreaux:

We write to request the opportunity to meet with you to discuss the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office (EBRSO) the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that your office entered into on May 2017. As you know, the MOA (also known as a 287(g) agreement) deputizes EBRSO law enforcement officers to identify, arrest, and process persons in the EBR parish jail that they consider being in violation of immigration law. According to data collected by Syracuse University, 60 immigrants have been arrested by EBRSO personnel and transferred to ICE custody since the agreement was signed.[1] We know that you are deeply committed to enhancing public safety in East Baton Rouge Parish and to making the best use of the time and resources provided to you by the residents of our parish.[2] We believe that EBRSO’s involvement in the 287(g) program hinders realization of both of these goals. Below we outline in more detail why we hope you will end the 287(g) agreement.

287(g) Agreements Threaten Community Safety and Hinder Community Policing
You and your team have worked hard to build trust and a spirit of cooperation with the many diverse communities that compose EBR Parish, including the immigrant community, through community-based policing and outreach efforts. Your hard work, along with the trust we have built together, is being undermined by EBRSO’s 287(g) agreement. EBR Parish is home to 24,606 immigrants.[3] We all know the vital role that immigrants, many undocumented, played in rebuilding the Baton Rouge area after the August 2016 floods. Our immigrant sisters and brothers are working hard to raise their families and pay their bills. As the Major Cities Chiefs of Police have noted, immigrants — documented or undocumented — will not come forward and provide needed assistance and cooperation to police investigations if they fear their involvement with local law enforcement will potentially subject them or their family members and friends to immigration enforcement[4] and the subsequent shattering of their lives.

Because of extensive evidence about how local law enforcement cooperation with immigration undermines police-community relations, several jurisdictions have ended their 287(g) agreements, including Harris County and Carrolton County in Texas (2017 and 2018), Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (2018), Orange County, California (2018), El Paso, Colorado (2015), Maricopa County, Arizon (2011), and Los Angeles County (2015).[5]

287(g) Agreements are Expensive for Localities
It is our understanding that although ICE covers the cost of training deputized officers, EBRSO must pay the majority of costs associated with the partnership, including salary, overtime, and other personnel costs for officer time dedicated to the program; travel, housing, and per diem for 287(g) trainings; and administrative supplies. In addition, although ICE may have paid costs associated with the purchase, installation, and maintenance of technology associated with the program (we would appreciate clarification on this matter), should any litigation result as a consequence of EBRSO’s involvement in the 287(g) agreement, your office may be held responsible for paying such costs.[6] It is also our understanding that local jails are not reimbursed for expenses incurred by detaining an immigrant for ICE beyond the time the local jail would normally have released the individual. Even more importantly, 287(g) agreements do not protect local jurisdictions from the constitutional problems of holding immigrants just for being undocumented.[7]

 The EBRSO struggles every year to find adequate resources to police and serve our community and has recently been working hard to address a shortage of personnel. Enforcement of immigration law is clearly a responsibility of the federal government. Given that the budgets and resources of local police agencies are not unlimited, and that enforcement of immigration laws brings an additional resource burden, we hope you will agree that there are strong fiscal arguments for ending EBRSO’s 287(g) agreement.

Deportation Harms Families and Communities
The Baton Rouge community prides itself on being family centered and family friendly. It is in the family where young people form their consciences, learn moral virtues, and develop their identities. You have used the “triangle analogy” to describe the three major influences on youth: school, faith in God, and family.[8] The well-being of our community, especially our youth, absolutely depends on the well-being of families. Therefore, it is important to consider that research points to significant and long-lasting harm to children’s well-being as a consequence of a parent’s deportation, which in 90% of cases involves the deportation of the father. Effects include psychological trauma, material hardship, residential instability, greater reliance on public benefit programs, and family dissolution.[9]

Many Americans were slow to acknowledge the devastating long-term impacts on families caused by slavery and mass incarceration. We must now recognize that taking loving parents away from their children through deportation also does incalculable harm to families and tears at our social fabric. For the sake of the youth and the families of EBR Parish, we implore you to end your relatively new cooperation with ICE in the deportation of immigrants who become entangled in law enforcement (often through minor traffic stops) but who are otherwise responsible and productive members of our community.

Conclusion
In 2015, you and Representative Pat Smith were honored with the prestigious Capital Area United Way's Brotherhood Sisterhood Award in recognition of your life-long work to eliminate bias, bigotry, and racism across ethnic, gender and religious lines. In accepting the award, your words summed up why the Baton Rouge Immigrants' Rights Coalition is so committed to the wellbeing of our immigrant sisters and brothers, "We're all human beings. We’re all created equal.”[10]

Thank you for your attention to this letter. 

Sincerely,
ADD YOUR VOICE. Sign the petition here.

Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center | Cashauna Hill, Executive Director
Louisiana Organization for Refugees and Immigrants | Dauda Sesay, President
Foundation for Louisiana | Flozell Daniels, CEO and President
Imagine Water Works | Miriam Belblidia, Co-Founder
Louisiana Language Access Coalition | Karla Sikaffy DuPlantier, Board Chair
YWCA of Greater Baton Rouge | Dianna Payton, CEO
Progressive Social Network | Jennifer Harding, President
Women With a Vision, Inc | Deon Haywood, Executive Director
Beloved Community | Rhonda Broussard, CEO
New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice | Ursula Price, Executive Director
The Promise of Justice Initiative | Mercedes Montagnes, Executive Director
Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition | Sade Dumas, Executive Director
Power Coalition For Equity and Justice | Ashley Shelton, Executive Director
Lift Louisiana | Michelle Erenberg, Executive Director
Another Gulf Is Possible Collaborative | Jayeesha Dutta, Co-Founder
Southern Poverty Law Center | Meredith Stewart, Senior Supervising Attorney
Baton Rouge Democratic Socialists of America | Will Conlin, Treasurer
El Centro de Avance | Juan Cruz, Executive Director
National Association of Social Workers, Louisiana Chapter (NASW-LA) | Ayn W. Stehr, Executive Director
Coalition for Louisiana Progress | Melissa Flournoy, Board Chair
United Nigeria Organization - Baton Rouge (UNO-BR) | Dr. Ayodeji Famuyide
Voice of the Experienced (VOTE) - Baton Rouge Chapter | Norris Henderson, Executive Director

[1] See the TRACImmigation website at https://trac.syr.edu/phptools/immigration/arrest/
[2] Advocate staff report. (2017, August 8). Sheriff Sid Gautreaux finishes the term as Sheriff's Association President. The Advocate. Retrieved from https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/communities/mid_city/article_4c79ecd2-791d-11e7-9861-478d38f11c11.html
[3] Based on the 2013-2017 five-year estimate of the American Community Survey. From U.S. Census FactFinder retrieved at https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml?src=bkmk
[4] M.C.C. Immigration Committee Members. (2006, June). M.C.C. Committee recommendations for enforcement of Immigration Laws by local police Agencies. Major Cities Chiefs. Retrieved at https://www.majorcitieschiefs.com/pdf/MCC_Position_Statement.pdf
[5] See Maps of 297(g) agreements. Immigration Legal Resource Center. Retrieved at https://www.ilrc.org/national-map-287g-agreements
[6] Memorandum of Understanding between EBRSO and ICE provided to BRIRC.
[7] Núñez, A. (2018, March 7). Immigration 101: What is 287(g)? America’s Voice. Retrieved at  https://americasvoice.org/blog/immigration-101-287g/
[8] Advocate staff report. (2015, May 5). East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux, Rep. Patricia Haynes Smith honored with Brotherhood/Sisterhood award. The Advocate. Retrieved at https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_0e8ded71-ff51-5593-96b3-07170679d9b1.html
[9] Capps, R., Koball, H., Campetella, A., Perreira, K., Hooker, S., & Pedroza, J.M. (2015, September). Implications of Immigration Enforcement Activities for the Well-Bing of Children in Immigrant Families. Urban Institute and Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved at https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/alfresco/publication-exhibits/2000405/2000405-Implications-of-Immigration-Enforcement-Activities-for-the-Well-Being-of-Children-in-Immigrant-Families.pdf
[10] Advocate staff report. (2015, May 5). East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux, Rep. Patricia Haynes Smith honored with Brotherhood/Sisterhood award. The Advocate. Retrieved at https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_0e8ded71-ff51-5593-96b3-07170679d9b1.html