In 2007, the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office became Georgia’s first local law enforcement agency to partner with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and participate in the critical public safety program known as 287(g). After years of successful identifications and removals of criminal aliens from Georgia, newly elected Sheriff Craig Owens ended the 287(g) partnership immediately upon taking office in 2021. The Biden administration didn’t make any attempt to maintain the partnership, apparently okay with the release of criminal aliens into American communities.
Now, Sheriff Owens is claiming that the 287(g) program is no different than honoring ICE detainers, which is entirely inaccurate and an obvious attempt to hide from his pro-illegal immigration record during an election year.
The fact is this: Without the training and equipment that 287(g) sheriffs receive as part of this critical ICE partnership, Sheriff Owens and his employees cannot identify whether a person they’ve arrested for a criminal act is in the country illegally. That inability to identify criminal alien status has undoubtedly resulted in the release of dangerous individuals back into American communities.
The 287(g) Program Is Critical. As described by ICE, “The 287(g) Program enhances the safety and security of our nation’s communities by allowing ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) to partner with state and local law enforcement agencies to identify and remove incarcerated criminal noncitizens who are amenable to removal” from the United States. The program has been key to identifying countless criminal aliens sitting in jails on account of already having been arrested by local law enforcement. Officers working for law enforcement agencies throughout the nation have received training from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on how to identify criminal aliens so that the individuals can be handed over to ICE for removal, rather than be released back into their communities.
There are a number of reasons the 287(g) program is critical to public safety. Sometimes ICE is aware that a criminal alien has been arrested by local law enforcement. For example, when a sheriff’s department takes an individual’s fingerprints, after having arrested and booked the individual for a violation of some local or state law, the prints are entered into a federal system and will result in a flag for ICE if the individual is an alien who has had a previous run-in with federal law enforcement (e.g., a previous deportation). In such an instance where a record exists, ICE will generally issue a detainer to the sheriff, requesting that the local law enforcement agency continue to detain the individual until an ICE officer can be sent to the jail and transfer the alien into federal custody. Sanctuary jurisdictions generally ignore these detainers and release criminal aliens back into our communities.
However, there are many instances where an alien arrested by local law enforcement for a violation has no federal record (e.g., they may have entered the country illegally without encountering the Border Patrol), and the fingerprints do not result in a flag to ICE. It’s in these instances where training local law enforcement receives through the 287(g) partnership is critical in initiating the identification and removal of a criminal alien. After making the right inquiries, sheriffs will alert ICE to the potential removability of an individual they’ve arrested instead of automatically releasing them back into the community, where they might reoffend.
Once a Benefit to Cobb County. The 287(g) program was instrumental in identifying serious criminal aliens in Cobb County jails and opponents of immigration enforcement are well aware of this.
Those who oppose 287(g) are explicitly in support of releasing criminal aliens into our communities. The case studies below are a handful of examples of criminal aliens that the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office identified through the 287(g) program. They are available in ICE’s monthly 287(g) reports that the Biden administration stopped publishing as soon as President Biden took office.
Notably, one of these 287(g) encounters occurred right after the current anti-287(g) sheriff was elected (but before he was sworn in, in December 2020) and involved a Jamaican national sentenced to 10 years for armed robbery. Other examples include illegal aliens arrested for rape and child molestation, crimes that one would think a serious sheriff would want to ensure resulted in prosecution and deportation. But under Sheriff Owens, there’s no telling what is happening to individuals with similar records who are arrested by his officers. We do know that they are no longer being identified as removable aliens by his office, and it’s more than likely ICE is not detecting them — since many enter the United States clandestinely on unknown dates — and they are simply being released instead of being transferred to ICE custody.
- On November 16, 2020, the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office 287(g) Program encountered a citizen of Jamaica sentenced to 10 years for armed robbery, possession of a firearm in commission of a felony, and possession of marijuana and placed an immigration detainer and warrant on the subject. The subject was last admitted into the United States a conditional lawful resident.
- On January 2, 2020, the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office 287(g) Program encountered a citizen of Honduras charged with statutory rape and placed an immigration detainer and warrant on the subject. The subject entered the United States on an unknown date and location without inspection.
- On November 11, 2019, the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office 287(g) Program encountered a citizen of El Salvador charged with child molestation and placed an immigration detainer and warrant on the subject. The subject entered the United States on an unknown date and location without inspection.
- On March 10, 2020, the Cobb County 287(g) Program encountered a citizen of Guatemala charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and driving without a valid license and placed an immigration detainer and warrant on the subject. The subject entered the United States on an unknown date and location without inspection.
- On August 23, 2020, the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office 287(g) Program encountered a citizen of Mexico charged with simple battery and driving on an expired license and placed an immigration detainer and warrant on the subject. The subject has previous convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol, driving while license suspended, cruelty to children-1st degree, obstructing or hindering persons making emergency telephone call, cruelty to children-3rd degree, false imprisonment, and aggravated assault. The subject entered the United States as a lawful permanent resident.
- On October 26, 2020, the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office 287(g) Program encountered a citizen of Mexico for driving on a suspended license and failure to yield to a pedestrian at crosswalk and placed an immigration detainer and warrant on the subject. The subject has two prior convictions for driving under the influence. The subject entered the United States on an unknown date and location without inspection.
Why Sheriff Owens wouldn’t want similar identifications of criminal aliens to continue is hard to imagine, but he’s very proud of helping criminal aliens in his jails evade deportation, calling his ending of the 287(g) partnership a “historic moment for Cobb County”. It may be historic in that it’s likely the first time a Cobb County sheriff has moved to protect drunk driving child rapists in our country illegally.
Criminal Aliens Benefit from Cobb County Ending 287(g) Partnership. At a recent candidate event, both Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens and his challenger, David Cavender, took some questions from the audience, which included questions about 287(g). Sheriff Owens obfuscated when asked about his ending of Cobb County’s participation in the program, arguing that he still cooperated with ICE and honored ICE detainers. The same anti-borders activists who persuaded Sheriff Owens to end the 287(g) agreement also oppose sheriffs honoring ICE detainers, so it’s unclear to what extent Cobb County is a cooperative jurisdiction from ICE’s perspective.
Regardless, honoring an occasional ICE detainer is quite different from being a 287(g) partner. When a sheriff honors an ICE detainer, they simply respond to an ICE hold request in the affirmative, effectively saying: “Yes, we will continue to detain the individual for up to 48 hours in order to give ICE an opportunity to take custody.” It’s an important thing for local law enforcement to honor detainers, but it’s the bare minimum of cooperation.
When a sheriff’s department is a 287(g) partner, officers receive training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), and are also provided with electronic equipment from ICE, so that they can make quick identifications of criminal aliens in their jails as part of the basic book-in process. The 287(g) program means more information for sheriffs and a greater benefit to public safety than passively waiting to see if an arrested alien is on ICE’s radar.
Illegal aliens are often not on ICE’s radar on account of having clandestinely entered the United States. When a criminal alien with an unknown, unrecorded background is arrested by local law enforcement, ICE often won’t know to issue detainer. But a sheriff’s department that is trained under the 287(g) program can uncover an individual’s removable status and alert ICE to the arrest. That’s a good thing if public safety is the goal.
Ultimately, when an illegal alien unknown to ICE crosses paths with local law enforcement, a 287(g) partnership is very important for ensuring the alien is identified and flagged for ICE so that the individual can be sent home after local authorities are done with him, instead of being released back into American communities to reoffend. Simply honoring detainers is not the same as being a proactive partner with federal law enforcement.
Cobb County should get serious about public safety and send a request to ICE to reinstate its 287(g) partnership.