Saturday, July 22, 2017

by Steve Reinbrecht

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.