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Introduction As the incoming Trump administration pledges to involve local law enforcement in federal immigration enforcement, this memo seeks to assist such agencies in maintaining community trust. While there are legal limits on compelling local law enforcement to carry out federal enforcement policies, expanding local law enforcement’s role in immigration matters could significantly affect community […]
Dec 23Introduction President-elect Trump, along with key advisors, have said that the second Trump administration will feature mass deportations aimed at removing the entire unauthorized population in the United States, currently estimated at 11 million people. Beyond targeting the current undocumented population, President-elect Trump has periodically suggested that groups with temporary legal status, including Temporary Protected […]
Dec 23By former Chief of Police, Richard Biehl (Dayton, OHIO) Seventeen years ago, I was appointed police chief of Dayton, Ohio. Not even a month into this role, I received an email that would drastically reshape my career and set me on a path to better serve Dayton’s immigrant communities. The email described the deep fear […]
Oct 17On May 8th, 2024, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient and police officer Mitchell Soto-Rodriguez testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to reaffirm the vitality of Dreamers to our communities. Officer Soto-Rodriguez of Blue Island, IL, had dreamed of being a police officer since her sophomore year of high school, when a car […]
Sep 03Available to download in PDF On May 1, 2024, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed into law House Bill 1105, the Georgia Criminal Alien Track and Report Act of 2024. In part, this sweeping state legislation requires Georgia’s local agencies to aggressively pursue agreements with the federal government to help enforce immigration laws, clarifies […]
Jul 03Available to download in PDF T Visas Final Rule T nonimmigrant status (commonly referred to as a “T visa”) allows noncitizens who are victims of sex or labor trafficking in the United States to remain in the country for an initial period of up to four years as long they assist law enforcement in […]
Jun 27Santa Monica’s Chief of Police Named Task Force’s New Co-chair The Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force (LEITF) has announced that Police Chief Ramon Batista of Santa Monica, California, has been appointed as a new co-chair. Batista joins co-chairs Sheriff Ed Gonzalez (Harris County, Texas), Chief Chad Kasmar (Tucson, Arizona) and Chief Michael Tupper (Marshalltown, Iowa). “I am excited about […]
Jan 10Available to download in PDF Introduction The production and transportation of illicit fentanyl is not exclusively an immigration issue, but it is connected to the larger conversation around the U.S.-Mexico border. The smuggling and prevalence of illicit fentanyl impacts border communities in unique ways, creating distinctive challenges and placing local law enforcement on the front […]
Dec 21Available to download in PDF Dr. Ruben Quesada became a police officer to protect everyone’s rights. So when state legislators in Arizona tried to use local law enforcement like him to crack down on unauthorized immigration, he and many of his colleagues felt torn. Enacted in 2010, Arizona’s S.B. 1070 was notoriously the harshest anti-immigrant […]
Dec 20Available to download in PDF Overview The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on May 23, 2023 its first Department-wide policy on body-worn cameras (BWCs). The policy includes a phased, nationwide implementation of BWCs for the Department’s officers and agents, pending the necessary funding from Congress to purchase and maintain the equipment. The […]
Jul 11Available to download in PDF Introduction In June 2022, 53 migrants from Mexico and Central America were discovered dead in the back of a tractor-trailer in San Antonio.[1] These migrants sought to support their families, flee poverty and violence, and pursue better lives. Many had already overcome harrowing conditions to reach the U.S. border […]
Jun 22Introduction Over the last ten years, cyclical increases in migrant arrivals at the Southwest border have posed major logistical, humanitarian, and security concerns. Border security and immigration policy are chiefly under the jurisdiction of the federal government. However, with border encounters reaching record totals in recent years, there has been growing interest in the role […]
Dec 23This explainer provides an overview of U.S. v. Texas, the legal challenge to the Biden administration’s immigration enforcement priorities that was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on November 29, 2022. The questions being considered by the Supreme Court and their implications – with potentially significant impacts on immigrants, agency authority, and the relationship between […]
Dec 02Biden Administration’s Updated Immigration Enforcement Priorities Note: this resource serves as an update to the LEITF’s previous publication comparing the Obama, Trump, and Biden administration immigration enforcement priorities. On September 30, 2021, DHS released Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law, new immigration enforcement priorities that emphasize the use of prosecutorial discretion to seek […]
Oct 27Backgrounder: Jurisdictions Permitting LPR Hiring To download a PDF version, click here. Police departments and sheriff’s offices across the United States continue to struggle to find qualified candidates to serve as officers. While most jurisdictions require that law enforcement officer candidates be U.S. citizens, a growing number have removed citizenship as a requirement for candidates, […]
Aug 17For PDF version, click here. What is the Byrne-JAG Program? The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program (“Byrne-JAG”) is a formula grant program that provides federal criminal justice funding to law enforcement agencies across the United States. Byrne-JAG provides states, territories, tribes, local governments, and governmental agencies with nearly $250 million of annual […]
Apr 27For a PDF version, click here. Congress first acknowledged the precarious position of immigrant victims of crime in 1994 with the passage of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The bill specifically focused on victims of domestic abuse, who were often forced to choose between reporting the crime to law enforcement—risking loss of possible legal […]
Apr 27For a PDF version, click here. 10/27/21 update: On September 30, DHS released Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law, new immigration enforcement priorities that emphasize the use of prosecutorial discretion to seek targeted enforcement. For updated information on these priorities from the Biden administration, please click here. Introduction Over the past decade, the […]
Apr 22The LEITF and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) have put together a resource inventory of promising practices and programs for immigrant and refugee outreach. The list of programs includes brief summaries and contact information for agency personnel who can provide further details about the programs. The programs have been organized by the following topics: […]
Dec 08The Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force (LEITF) and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) collaborated to produce a new report: Building Trust with Immigrant Communities: Best Practices for Law Enforcement Agencies in Smaller Cities and Towns. This report highlights low-cost, innovative strategies that have proven effective in developing relationships with immigrant communities. Fourteen LEITF police […]
May 18FACT SHEET: Warrant Service Officer (WSO) Program What is the WSO program? U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the launch of the Warrant Service Officer (WSO) program on May 6, 2019. ICE called the WSO program “a new collaborative program intended for local law-enforcement that wish to honor immigration detainers but are prohibited […]
Jun 04INTRODUCTION While immigrants are part of the communities we serve, they are also fellow officers and colleagues working alongside us. We decided to publish these profiles of immigrants working with us to protect our communities and promote public safety to highlight some of the men and women on whom we rely to help America be […]
Jun 29FACT SHEET: Immigrants and Crime Introduction The issue of public safety and immigration is of keen interest to law enforcement officials. Recent public discourse has raised questions: Are immigrants, particularly undocumented immigrants, more prone to commit crime? Will public safety will be improved through tougher immigration enforcement? This brief provides an overview of crimes […]
Jun 26FACT SHEET: Immigrant Youth and MS-13 MS-13 has its roots in the U.S. Many young immigrants who fled Central America because of ongoing civil wars in the 1980s arrived in Los Angeles. They found that local American street gangs dominated the scene. They reacted by forming a gang of their own, which became […]
Dec 12FORUM POLICY National Immigration Forum *An updated resource is now available: Reviving 287(g) Agreements Under the New Administration: Implementation, Concerns, and Implications Introduction Congress created the 287(g) program in 1996 to increase federal immigration enforcement capacity. Voluntary agreements under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) enlist and authorize state and local […]
Sep 08LAURENCE BENENSON Assistant Director for Policy & Advocacy National Immigration Forum Introduction No formal, legal definition of the term “sanctuary jurisdiction” exists in the U.S. Code or under federal regulations. Some define “sanctuary jurisdiction” as one that fails to cooperate with the federal government as required by a once-obscure provision of the Immigration and […]
Sep 08Permission Would Bolster Recruitment, Diversity
Jun 16LAURENCE BENENSON Assistant Director for Policy & Advocacy National Immigration Forum Click here to read the white paper, “A Path to Public Safety: The Legal Questions around Immigration Detainers.” So-called sanctuary jurisdictions have caused great controversy. Lost amid the debate is the fact that, whatever their approach toward immigrants, most state and local law […]
Feb 27