Without discussion or mention of the agreement, the Flagler Beach City Commission last Thursday signed an agreement with U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to deputize some of its police officers to enforce federal immigration laws.
Flagler Beach police officers trained to that end will have the authority to interrogate “any alien or person believed to be an alien as to his right to be or remain in the United States,” which opens the way to interrogations of citizens until they prove otherwise, “and to process for immigration violations those individuals who have been arrested for State or Federal criminal offenses,” according to the memorandum of understanding.
Local law enforcement agencies have always arrested individuals accused of crimes whether documented or not, but without inquiring about their immigration status. Now that they will inquire, undocumented migrants found to have committed crimes may be turned over to ICE detention after their local adjudication, or if they were previously adjudicated and were found to be in violation of a court order.
Neither Flagler Beach nor Flagler County have significant crime (the Sheriff’s Office frequently boasts of having one of the lowest crime rates in the state, for a county this size), let alone crime by undocumented migrants, without whom it is unlikely that the local building or hospitality industries–two mainstays of Flagler County’s economy–could function at current efficiency or quality.
The City Commission approved the agreement as part of its consent agenda, the portion of the agenda where several items are lumped together and approved in one vote, without discussion. The consent agenda is usually reserved for routine items, like the approval of minutes or recurring contracts. It is also used to pass through items in hopes of drawing little attention. At least some commissioners were not keen on making more of the memorandum than they had to, approving it with gritted teeth. Flagler Beach Police Chief Matt Doughney could not be reached before this article initially published.
Unusual and voluntary in previous years, the ICE agreement is part of a new normal. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, every other sheriff’s office in the state and local governments across the country are adopting the same agreement. They had little choice. The agreement is in line with a blustery Jan. 20 executive order by President Trump, inaccurately termed “Protecting the American people against invasion” (there is no such thing), that projects a stepped-up effort to deport migrants with criminal records, or migrants who have a court order to exit the country.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, following a special session weeks ago, signed a law requiring local communities to collaborate with ICE. Most states have a version of the same partnerships, but without mandates. Some, like Washington, Oregon, California and Illinois, have state laws prohibiting participation.
The origin of the 287(g) program, as it is known–following its section in federal law–dates back to an immigration reform law Bill Clinton signed in 1996. But partnerships between federal immigration authorities and local police were intended to be voluntary, and in most states still are.
Trump’s order pressured local agencies to sign up, and subsequent state laws, as in Florida, forced them to do so. The order claims that many undocumented migrants “present significant threats to national security and public safety, committing vile and heinous acts against innocent Americans.”
In fact, the proportion of American citizens committing crimes is nearly three times as high as that of undocumented migrants, and the proportion of Americans committing vile and heinous acts (or violent crimes) is more than twice as high, according to a recent Department of Justice study, and 20 percent higher than legal migrants. In other words it is significantly safer to have undocumented migrants as neighbors than citizens. The numbers suggest that by shifting police resources to undocumented migrants, communities will be more vulnerable to crimes committed by citizens.
When the Fort Myers City Council balked at signing the ICE agreement, the state attorney general threatened to remove the council members who voted against signing. They quickly reversed and joined a unanimous vote, some of them blaming their city attorney for having misled them.
If there was any hesitation on the Flagler Beach City Commission, it was faintly, briefly voiced before the meeting by one commissioner, who is concerned about the liability risks to the city. The federal government will pay local agencies for their officers’ training, but beyond that, responsibilities are on the local agencies’ budgets. Commissioner Rick Belhumeur described it as an additional “unfunded mandate.”
“Not only do we have to pay law enforcement to perform duties on behalf of ICE,” Belhumeur said in a text, “we also have to accept any liabilities that come from performing those duties.” He cited a part of the agreement that states that the law enforcement agency “will be responsible and bear the cost of participating law enforcement agency personnel regarding their property or personal expenses, incurred by reason of death, injury, or incidents giving rise to liability.”
Belhumeur was not thrilled about it, but voted with his colleagues to approve the agreement, especially after he read about the Ft. Myers council members. “I’m afraid to vote no or Trump will have me deported,” he said. Jokingly, of course.
Flagler Beach-ICE memorandum of understanding:
ice-flagler-beach
