ICE won't detain non-U.S. drivers in Nashville (The Tennessean)

ICE won't detain non-U.S. drivers in Nashville
Davidson County sheriff says arrests will continue

By Kate Howard and Chris Echegaray • THE TENNESSEAN • The Gannett • June 22, 2009

The federal government will no longer detain illegal immigrants caught driving without a license in Nashville.

Instead, the federal system wants to use its bed space to house and deport the most dangerous offenders.

The change is good news to advocates who have complained from the beginning, in spring 2007, that the focus of the local immigration enforcement program is misplaced on people who are only committing traffic infractions.

In fact, one of the biggest criticism of the Davidson County Sheriff's Office has been that all offenders, from those driving without a license to those committing violent felonies, are treated to the same punishment once they are identified as illegal immigrants.

The sheriff, who has stood behind the efficacy of the program, says he will continue to screen every foreign-born person arrested, whether they go directly to federal custody or not.

"Just because the federal government is saying we need to prioritize who is detained, doesn't remove the fact they'll be held accountable in the courtroom," said Sheriff Daron Hall.

"There is no shift. We are still processing everyone for every crime."

Most of the 5,300 people sent toward deportation from Nashville's jail in the past two years spent weeks shuffled from one jail cell to another before being sent out of the country. About 75 percent of them were picked up on traffic offenses ranging from driving without a license to DUI; 25 percent were charged only with license offenses.

Those people will now be eligible to be released on their own recognizance, allowed to leave jail once they've resolved their local charges and have a court date to see an immigration judge in Memphis.

Clearer priorities
Overcrowding in the federal prison system coupled with an effort by the federal government to establish clearer priorities regarding deportation spurred the change.

Even though immigration advocates hail the federal decision, deportation is still likely for the illegal immigrants screened through the program — known as 287g.

Stephen Fotopulos, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, says it's still punishing members of society for driving when they can't get legal permission to do so.

"Upwards of 95 percent of them, under a current broken system, have no chance for meaningful release (when they go before an immigration judge) in Memphis," Fotopulos said.

"It will allow people to have access to immigration counsel and make good decisions about their family. It's easier to do that when you're not in a holding cell in Alabama."

According to jail statistics, the number of people determined to be illegal immigrants in the jail has dropped by 4 percent over the program's first year.

Fotopulos is not convinced the numbers are as positive as Hall says. He believes the immigrant population in Nashville dropped by several thousand last year and the ratio should be dropping faster.

But Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas says there has been no change in the way his officers approach policing since the 287g program went into effect. The police department has no immigration enforcement powers, but they're indirectly related to the process because anyone police bring to booking at the jail is subject to the screening.

Citations not arrests
Anyone who can prove identity through passports, phone bills or otherwise will be issued a citation for a misdemeanor offense if they haven't skipped court appearances before, Serpas said. Those receiving citations in lieu of arrests are not screened for immigration status.

Matt Chandler, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, says the decision not to house traffic offenders is in keeping with the department's priorities in terms of whom to detain and remove from the country.

"It always has been and always will be criminal aliens who pose a public safety or national security threat who we're most concerned about," Chandler said.

It's up to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to shift their resources to where they're most needed, Chandler said.

Hall said the directive came early this month in an e-mail from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The change comes too late for Yadira Hernandez, who saw two neighbors vanish after a traffic stop. They didn't have driver's licenses and were sent back to Mexico.

Under the new policy, if her neighbors committed only traffic offenses, they would be able to return to their families and get their affairs in order before being deported.

Hernandez knows the danger she's in when she drives her children to school, church and doctor's appointments. Those trips are not a luxury.

"It's not like I'm cruising around. It's for a purpose,'' Hernandez said.

Hernandez was one of hundreds of people who went last week to the Iglesia de Dios Hispana (Hispanic Church of God) in East Nashville to get an identification card and passport from the Mexican government. The consulate has been coming to Nashville almost monthly now to meet the tremendous need for official IDs.

The "mobile consulates" are important for people who can't drive to the consulate in Atlanta but need to be able to prove who they are, said Abigail Calleja, who travels with the consulate program. The need in Nashville has outweighed what they've seen in other Southern cities.

"Every time we come, we open up 1,000 appointments, and they are full within hours," Calleja said. "You don't see that anywhere else."

Quiet encouragement
Immigrants are quietly encouraged by advocates and their church leaders to carry as many forms of identification as they can in case they get stopped.

"When police don't have any ID, they take a person to jail," said pastor Jose Rodriguez Marin. "You need good ID."

Marin, a Spanish-language radio DJ with a rapidly growing congregation, presided over a constantly replenished line of people seeking passports.

Anita Vasquez came to get a passport and a Matricula, the Mexican ID, although she doesn't attempt to drive.

"It's better to be prepared," she said.

With more than 2,300 people held in jail last year waiting to be transferred to federal custody, Renata Soto's advocacy organization was busy.

They've spent many hours this year trying to help their clients with things they never expected to be worried about, such as powers of attorney in case they need to designate someone to care for their children. They also deal with dual citizenship requests for American-born children so they can go with their parents if they're deported.

"For me that is an indication of how people truly live in fear," said Soto, executive director of Conexion Americas. "People know it's a matter of chance often that they could be in that predicament."

Controversial year
It's been a controversial year for the fledgling 287g program. Last summer, the sheriff's office took national flak for the treatment of an illegal immigrant arrested for careless driving.

She was taken into custody over a holiday weekend and gave birth after her leg was shackled to the bed during portions of her labor.

Hall defended her classification as a medium-security inmate, saying she was a flight risk because she had been deported once before.

But he changed the policy on how they handle birth in custody two months later, vowing that pregnant inmates would no longer be restrained unless there was a credible threat.

In March, the federal government released a report highly critical of the way the 287g program has been implemented across the nation.

Hall said he would welcome more consistency, although he will be concerned if the government stops letting him screen everyone who is booked.

It's not his concern whether the person is detained or released with a court date, Hall said, so long as he's still allowed to identify them as illegal immigrants. But he expects that many people ordered to go to an immigration judge in Memphis won't show up.

"I just hope it's not a set-up for failure," he said.

Hall says he has made some changes to make things easier for the federal inmates kept in jail for roughly a week while they await pickup from Immigration and Customs Enforcement — and their families who need to see them.

He has put all the inmates with immigration holds in the same unit, so Spanish-language Mass and visits from the Mexican consulate are easier to arrange. Hall said the menu for the inmates has the same calorie content as that for the general population, but he has changed the options.

He has made visitation more flexible, so families wary of showing identification and signing their name on a list are allowed to skip those formalities. No appointments are necessary, and the hours are extended so families can come whenever they're able.

Still, fundamental arguments against the program remain. Though more people will be released while awaiting immigration charges and will have access to an attorney, it doesn't change the fact that people have not been proved guilty before they've been deemed a "criminal alien" by the government.

Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the Tennessee chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, says if the program must continue, it should be moved to a different part of the justice process.

"For fairness and due process, the 287g program would best be implemented if it were used to screen after a conviction," Weinberg said.