Socialists and illegal immigration activists are claiming victory after the Metropolitan Police Authority of Genesee County rescinded an agreement to collaborate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. With a population of just under 80,000 residents, Flint is the largest city in Genesee County.
Last month, the MPA reversed course on a 287(g) agreement with ICE, which had allowed the agency to delegate some enforcement authorities to local officers; however, the reason for the reversal is debatable.
Metro Police Chief Matt Bade stated on Oct. 22 that the decision to terminate the agreement signed in July was based on “workload constraints,” as three of the five officers set to participate were reassigned to other duties, according to MLive.
But the Flint Alliance for Immigrant Rights and local socialists offer a different rendition of events, pointing to an organized pressure campaign that focused on flooding board meetings and public comment periods to paint ICE as racist and Bade as a collaborator.
“For the past two months, FAIR and the Party for Socialism and Liberation gathered with community members at Flint’s Neighborhood Engagement Hub to study 287(g) agreements, how they’ve been defeated in the past and the national movement for community defense of immigrant families,” the Libertarian reported. “That study and theory was [sic] turned into action that led to the rescission of Metro Police’s collaboration with ICE.”
“It was about people power,” FAIR member Alysia Treviño told MLive. “The community showed up again and again, giving public comments, sending emails. We organized teachings that had dozens of people and it made it impossible for them to ignore.”
That effort has since spread to include partnerships with Indivisible Genesee Livingston and Oakland Warriors, also known as Indivisible GLOW, with further community strategy sessions in the works.
“We’re standing up to defend our immigration community in Genesee County and our community broadly,” Robert White, a member of both FAIR and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, told MLive. “We know it’s a racist agreement that promotes racial and linguistic profiling. I hope it increases a feeling of safety, and we know the struggle with ICE is ongoing.”
It’s a struggle that ICE seems to be winning.
Through Nov. 4, ICE has signed 1,096 287(g) agreements with law enforcement agencies in 40 states, including eight in Michigan, according to the ICE website.
That’s well over double the total from April, when data cited by the Midland Daily News showed ICE had 444 agreements in place.
The most recent Michigan agreements came just last month, when both the West Branch Police Department and Center Line Division of Public Safety and Security in Macomb County joined the list, MLive reports.
Others in Michigan include sheriff’s offices in Berrien, Calhoun, Crawford, Jackson, and Roscommon counties, as well as the Taylor Police Department.
“They are simply asking us to do the most basic thing: that when we come across somebody who’s in this country illegally after they have committed some sort of criminal offense, we notify them,” Taylor Police Chief John Blair told WJBK when the department joined in May.
“We aren’t kicking in doors or searching for illegal immigrants,” he said. “If you are arrested for a criminal offense, we must identify you. If in the lawful process of identifying you it is determined you are in the country illegally, we will contact ICE. That is what we do, and that is what we will continue to do.”
