Cache County Sheriff, Chad Jensen, said the Department will work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) only after one is booked into county jail for other crimes.
“I think there’re a lot of rumors about what 287(g) is and that we’re turning every deputy into ICE agents, which is not what any of this is,” Jensen said in a recent interview with Cache Valley Voice.
The document 287(g) is a written agreement between ICE and state law enforcement agencies (LEAs) to work together enforcing federal immigration laws. Local officers are trained to aid in the processing and removal of immigrants residing illegally in the United States.
The ICE website lists three 287(g) models or MEMORANDUMS OF AGREEMENT (MOA)
ICE describes each model.
The Jail Enforcement Model is designed to identify and process removable aliens — with criminal or pending criminal charges — who are arrested by state or local law enforcement agencies.
The Task Force Model serves as a force multiplier for law enforcement agencies to enforce limited immigration authority with ICE oversight during their routine police duties.
The Warrant Service Officer program allows ICE to train, certify and authorize state and local law enforcement officers to serve and execute administrative warrants on aliens in their agency’s jail.
Jensen said he signed up for the least intrusive option, The Warrant Service Officer (WSO).
“We’ve picked the WSO. The only time anybody would ever be impacted by what we’re doing is if they get arrested and get booked on a state crime.”
Cache County has just recently moved from “pending” to “participating” agencies according to www.ice.gov. There was no County Council vote, nor meeting space allocated for public input.
Jensen downplayed the necessity of public input. He said, “It doesn’t really change the process that we’re already doing. We already have contracts in place…It doesn’t really change anything we’ve already done.”
Jensen said whether he signed the MOA or not, he still has to report immigration status of detainees to ICE. This WSO option just provides more training to deputies on how to check the database for illegal immigration. He said the department gets no extra compensation for this arraignment. They are not doing the job of ICE but maybe some of their homework.
Jensen said he feels the illegal immigrant population in Cache Valley poses no greater threat than legal citizens of the valley.
When asked about ICE behavior on a national level, Jensen said it’s hard to form an opinion.
“I don’t know the details. I mean, I’ve been in this job long enough to know I don’t draw conclusions off a 10-second, 20-second video clip off the news. I don’t know the backstory of any of that…My goal as a sheriff is I want criminals off the street and I really don’t care which agency comes and gets them.”
