The Oakley Village Council on Tuesday voted to rescind the village police department’s cooperation agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to appease activists.
Despite apparent support from some members, the Oakley Village Council opted to end the Oakley Police Department’s 287(g) program agreement with ICE inked by Police Chief Marc Ferguson, the department’s only officer, on March 24, MLive reported.
Ferguson did not inform the council of the agreement until days after it was signed, Oakley Village President Richard Fish told WJRT.
The agreement, one of several between Michigan law enforcement agencies and ICE, permits officers to assist with federal immigration enforcement following training with the agency.
“I read over it and I didn’t see a whole lot terribly wrong so far,” Trustee Jennifer Scheuneman said Tuesday, when she suggested amending rather than rescinding the agreement. “There’s little bits and pieces of it that we’re not super comfortable with.”
The vote to rescind on Tuesday followed a contentious April 14 council meeting, when Democratic activists and some locals spoke out against the cooperation, according to MLive.
“Step away (for) the immigration community, not just for the immigration community but for the integrity, safety, and the soul of Oakley itself,” Saginaw County Democratic Party Latino Caucus Chair Angel Gomez urged trustees.
“What are we going to benefit out of this other than more liability and burden to the taxpayers?” Oakley resident Kristi Wicke complained.
Aside from legal liability and costs, residents suggested the agreement could lead to racial profiling, erode public safety, and create an opportunity for folks to impersonate immigration officials.
“I genuinely want a future in a small town that I can feel safe in, and so does my son,” Oakley resident identified by WJRT as “Brooke” told trustees. “You’re not providing that right now.”
Despite the backlash, Fish told MLive last month he still supports the agreement.
“Cooperation, that’s all it is,” he said.
The Oakley agreement was one of eight with Michigan law enforcement agencies, and the most recent. Others include the Berrian County Sheriff’s Office, Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Roscommon County Sheriff’s Office, Taylor Police Department, and West Branch Police Department.
The Oakley agreement is the second to be rescinded in Michigan.
Socialists and illegal immigration activists claimed victory in October after the Metropolitan Police Authority of Genesee County rescinded its 287(g) agreement with ICE, though Metro Police Chief Matt Bade blamed the decision on “workload constraints,” as three of the five officers set to participate were reassigned to other duties.
The Flint Alliance for Immigrant Rights and local socialists offered 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.”
Through mid-May, ICE maintained 1,832 287(g) agreements with local law enforcement agencies in 39 states and two U.S. territories, according to the ICE website.
“The 287(g) Program benefits state and local law enforcement agencies in several ways — but most notably, it helps you keep your community safe from potentially dangerous criminal aliens,” the site reads.
A Department of Homeland Security database of the “Worst of the Worst” illegal immigrant criminals arrested in the largest deportation effort in U.S. history lists 250 removed from Michigan with a wide range of previous convictions.
Convictions for those listed involve sex assaults, prostituting a minor, cocaine smuggling, DUIs, aggravated assaults, fraud, drug trafficking, hit and runs, lascivious acts with a minor, burglary, sex offenses, immigration fraud, homicide, smuggling aliens, carrying a concealed weapon, identity theft, property damage, resisting police, drug sales, racketeering, domestic violence, negligent manslaughter, flight to avoid prosecution, resisting police, amphetamine sales, cruelty toward a child, drug possession, fondling a child, possession of stolen property, counterfeiting, obstructing justice, trespassing, shoplifting, robbery, failure to register as a sex offender, prostitution, willful homicide, forceable purse snatching, probation violations, weapon trafficking, possession of burglary tools, rape, sodomy, manufacturing methamphetamines, sexual exploitation of a minor, extortion, kidnapping, computer fraud, intimidation, and other offenses.
The list names illegal immigrant criminals from Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Israel, Cuba, Laos, Iraq, Columbia, Nigeria, China, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, Burma, Ukraine, Laos, El Salvador, Sudan, Romania, Peru, Pakistan, Ecuador, Somalia, Vietnam, Jordan, Thailand, Ghana, Poland, Cambodia, Iran, India, Spain, Pakistan, Eritrea, and Bhutan.
