Wow! So far in 2017, about 20 counties have joined the
federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] agency’s “287(g)” program to
cooperate with federal immigration agents.
Although Berks County Sheriff Eric Weaknecht said in March that he wanted to join, our county is not on the latest list.
Berks is home to tens of thousands of Latinos, immigrants of all sorts, and Trump
supporters – plus a world-infamous ICE child-detention center -- so you would think our community newspaper, the Reading
Eagle, would follow the story.
The idea behind 287(g) is that if people don’t have
documents, local deputies would keep them in jail, after they would normally be
released, until ICE can show up.
Although that seems reasonable to some, others
criticize the idea. They argue that having local police involved in immigration
enforcement will discourage vulnerable people, such as beaten wives and other
crime victims, from seeking police help. Others say it violates the Constitution
by detaining people without cause.
And some say they are breaking the law and should have their
lives torn apart, forgetting that the United States has a proud history of
overturning such unreasonable but steadfast laws – like those permitting slavery,
or prohibiting women from owning property, or men from having sex with men, or
white men from marrying black women, or lately, smoking pot.
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