Arkansas lawmakers discuss state police participation in immigration enforcement
Arkansas law enforcement officials said Wednesday 48 people have been held on immigration detainers due to state police’s participation in a federal immigration program since September.
By Ainsley Platt, Arkansas Advocate
Arkansas law enforcement officials said Wednesday 48 people have been held on immigration detainers due to state police’s participation in a federal immigration program since September.
Lawmakers at a legislative hearing sought more details from State Police about the cost of training officers to participate in the program, with one lawmaker saying she hoped there were no barriers preventing more departments from participating.
“We should be acting as aggressively as we possibly can to make sure everybody’s trained, everybody’s participating, everybody’s on the same page to execute the president’s agenda,” said Republican Sen. Missy Irvin, who co-chairs the legislative subcommittee overseeing State Police. Arkansas State Police entered an agreement last summer with federal immigration authorities, granting it limited immigration enforcement power through the 287(g) Task Force Model program.
The program is a “force multiplier” that allows state and local agencies to enforce limited immigration authority during routine duties, according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement site.
Through the agreement, state police can contact ICE if it believes a person it comes into contact with during traffic stops, pursuits, investigations or other routine enforcement activity may be in the country illegally. ICE can then put an immigration detainer on that person.
Arkansas State Police entered into the agreement after a state law passed during last year’s legislative session required state police, the Department of Corrections and county sheriffs to do so.
President Donald Trump has made deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally one of the cornerstones of his second term. His administration has sent thousands of immigration enforcement agents into major Democrat-run cities with a stated goal of arresting and deporting immigrants with criminal convictions.
However, those without criminal histories and U.S. citizens have found themselves caught up in the crackdown as well. Most recently, the shooting death of a woman in Minneapolis by an ICE agent sparked nationwide protests.
Neighboring Tennessee is moving to do more in the immigration crackdown as well. Republican lawmakers there recently unveiled plans for bills that would require public institutions such as public schools, vehicle registration offices and city governments to track and report immigration status.
Arkansas State Police Director Col. Mike Hagar told legislators that since the 287(g) agreement was signed, all but a handful of state police troopers have completed the required 60-hour training.
Sen. Joshua Bryant, a Republican from Rogers, said that with the fiscal session approaching, he wanted to know if expenses related to the programs were being tracked for state police and the county jails that hold immigrants for Immigration and Customs Enforcement .
Hagar said he believed county jails were being reimbursed, but was unaware of how much they were being reimbursed. Troopers did the 60-hour training in between regular calls for service during their shifts, he said. ASP spokesperson Cindy Murphy said in an email that the 287(g) training was added to troopers’ regular training requirements, so they were not seeking reimbursement from the federal government for those costs.
“It’s not had an impact on our agency as far as operations are concerned,” Hagar told lawmakers.
Hagar said federal immigration resources in Arkansas were “very minimal,” and that most of those resources were taken up by picking up immigrants in local jails to take them to federal immigration detention.
Sen. Terry Rice, a Republican from Waldron, said that while he supported efforts to deport immigrants who have committed crimes, he was also concerned about the potential for state police to assist federal immigration authorities in detaining immigrants without criminal histories.
“Is there anything outside of your daily work that y’all are doing currently in coordination with federal agencies, Homeland Security, ICE, as far as going out and just seeking anything more than people with criminal charges?” he asked.
The agency was not participating in any operations like the one Rice described, Hagar said.
He said troopers have been told there is a difference between an immigrant who was brought here as a child and who doesn’t have a criminal history, and an immigrant who is arrested for a crime.
“We’ve explained to them that we expect them to use good judgment and common sense discretion that they have under the law,” Hagar said. “And you know, we trust that they’re going to take that responsibility seriously.”
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