DETROIT - The ACLU of Michigan and the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC) sent legal guidance last week to hundreds of Michigan law enforcement agencies regarding the role of local law enforcement in immigration enforcement. The guidance encourages local law enforcement to refrain from engaging in federal immigration enforcement which undermines their core mission – to keep communities safe – and could put them in legal jeopardy.
Agencies are navigating a complex legal landscape around ICE detainers, 287(g) agreements that deputize local officers as immigration agents, and other federal enforcement practices, including recent Trump administration immigration policy changes as part of its mass deportation scheme. When local law enforcement resources are diverted to civil immigration enforcement, it can undermine both constitutional protections and core public safety priorities.
As the updated guidance explains, local law enforcement agencies are not required to participate in federal immigration enforcement, and in fact, put communities at risk when they do so. Many noncitizens understand that any interaction with police can trigger immigration enforcement, and therefore may not report crimes or come forward as witnesses for fear they or their loved ones will be detained or deported. Because even trained officers may inadvertently rely on race, religion, or national origin when attempting to investigate immigration-related matters, local involvement in immigration enforcement can easily lead to serious constitutional and civil rights violations, and corresponding legal liability.
The goal of this updated guidance is to ensure that local law enforcement agencies have the tools they need to follow the law and foster safety and trust for all members of their community.
Some specific recommendations outlined in the guidance include:
- Local police departments cannot be required to enter agreements to act as proxy deportation agents for ICE (287(g) agreements). Communities should instead adopt welcoming policies that support the safety of all residents.
- Officers are not required to ask about immigration status unless directly relevant to a criminal investigation.
- Local police departments can accept multiple forms of ID and issue clear policies regarding the acceptance of foreign driver’s licenses.
- Local law enforcement should not prolong traffic stops to contact immigration enforcement, and should not prolong detention based on immigration detainer requests.
- Local law enforcement should use appearance tickets for minor offenses.
- Local police departments should provide local jails with ICE interview request consent forms to notify incarcerated people that they have a right to decline an ICE interview.
- Local law enforcement agencies should not rely on federal immigration officers for interpretation.
Miriam Aukerman, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan, said: “The Trump Administration is attempting to coerce local police to participate in creating an immigration dragnet that separates families and tears apart communities. But a basic principle of our constitutional structure—something we learned in fifth grade civics—is that the federal government doesn’t get to decide what local governments do. When local law enforcement gets entangled in immigration enforcement, it undermines public safety. It also exposes local government to tremendous legal liability.”
“We all want to live in safe communities but we don’t have to sacrifice our rights or those of our neighbors to achieve that,” said Christine Sauvé, Policy, Engagement, and Communications Manager at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. “We increasingly hear from clients about overreach of local law enforcement that ends with calls to ICE, and we’re concerned about the expansion of 287(g) agreements that recklessly deputize local officers as immigration agents. Following the guidance we’re sharing can instead help reduce fear, engender trust, and ensure public safety.”
“As Sheriff, my focus is on public safety not on carrying out a political agenda driven by a national obsession from the White House to push federal agencies to deport as many people as possible. It’s not okay and quite frankly, it's disturbing. Immigrants are human beings, not mere statistics to meet some quota,” said Washtenaw County Sheriff Alyshia Dyer. “Many local police want no part of this. When people in our community are too afraid to call 911, it puts everyone at risk. Building trust is essential to effective policing at the local level, and 287(g) agreements in particular threaten the trust we’ve spent decades working to build at the local level.”
Eli Savit, Prosecuting Attorney of Washtenaw County, said: “I want to underscore that this is a situation in which we have victims of crime that are more afraid of their government than they are of a person that harmed them – they are not showing up to court and they are not serving as witnesses. In some cases that means the cases have to be dismissed, and that's the tip of the iceberg."
Jessica Glynn, Vice President of Victim Services at YWCA Kalamazoo said: “When survivors know that local police are here to protect them, not to deport them, they come forward. They testify. They help put violent offenders behind bars. That protects every single one of us.”
Recording can be found here.
Full legal guidance can be found here.
An FAQ document on the guidance can be found here.