The following letter from Congressman Gerry Connolly should put to rest any fears that Rep. Connolly is soft on crime. He has fought hard for funding for this program and other law enforcement in Prince William, Fairfax and for the state of Virginia. See his letter to the editor printed in the Manassas News & Messenger  in its entirety:

The Dec. 30 News & Messenger editorial opposing legislation in Congress to eliminate the federal 287(g) program that trains and deputizes local law enforcement officials to help identify and remove undocumented immigrants who commit crimes is right on the mark.

The current draft legislation would kill the 287(g) program in use in Prince William County and dozens of other jurisdictions across the nation. I will not support any termination of this vital program.

While there have been some excesses in the program, overall communities enrolled in 287(g) have had success in removing criminal aliens from our midst and targeting gangs, drugs and human smuggling.  Given these facts, I believe 287(g) should be improved, not eliminated.

One deficiency in the 287(g) program—formally known as Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990—is that it does not provide adequate funding to jurisdictions to pay the costs of incarceration for those arrested and jailed for crimes.

Earlier this year, I was successful on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in restoring $400 million in funding for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) after it was eliminated from President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2010 budget proposal. That provision includes $3.2 million in federal funds to reimburse Prince William and Fairfax Counties and the Commonwealth of Virginia for some of the costs of incarcerating criminal aliens in their jails.

Both Pete Meletis, superintendent of the regional jail that serves Prince William County, and Fairfax County Sheriff Stan Barry cited the importance of securing these funds. Meletis specifically noted that the federal reimbursement to jurisdictions provided through SCAAP is important to maintaining the 287(g) program in Prince William County.

The presence of criminal aliens in our communities and in our jails represents a failure of the federal government to live up to its responsibility.

Until the United States government can adequately and appropriately handle this serious problem, the 287(g)program is vital to the well being of Prince William County and other localities around the nation, and I will fight for its continuation.

GERALD E. CONNOLLY

Member of Congress

11th CD of Virginia

 

Political opponents and enemies of Connolly would have you believe otherwise. They would have you believe he was simply not interested in enforcing law and order issues. His letter to the editor should put all those rumors to bed. Is there anyone reading Anti-bvbl who feels that local participation in 287(g) is a bad thing?  I always thought that it was common ground agreement for most people. 

Apparently a replacement program for 287(g) has been discussed.  I have heard rumors but the source was extremely questionable as to reliability.  If you know something and there is documentation, please share with us.

18 Thoughts to “Congressman Gerry Connolly Backs 287(g) Program”

  1. Opinion

    I am glad to see Connolly supports 287(g). It does what it is suppose to do… removes criminals from our community who happen to be undocumented immigrants.

    Frankly, I suspected Connolly was “soft” in this issue. This changes my views of him regarding this issue. Good stuff, M-h.

  2. Emma

    Well, he is up for re-election this year, so hopefully he isn’t just vote-pandering. We’ll see.

    Did anyone read the comments below Connolly’s letter? What a pack of grade-school ignoramuses. Moon, you should be proud that this blog has elevated far above that over the last year.

  3. The aim of the 287g is appropriate–target criminals. The program works well IMO so long as it is not being abused. I have heard complaints of abuse, but the solution for abuse is not to start over with a new program–it is to improve the one you have and ensure oversight.

  4. Rick Bentley

    Guess even Connoley has changed his tone.

  5. I have no proof that it is change. Perhaps he has always felt this way.

    Pinko, I expect you would hear complaints from just about any segment of the population who was at the jail. Criminals who get caught tend to complain about abuse. I have not heard anything out of the ordinary from our implementation of the program here.

    Its a good thing I don’t work at the jail. I would probably violate everyone rights the first hour I was there. Intentionally. Most people at the jail…most, not all, are not nice people.

  6. “His letter to the editor should put all those rumors to bed.” What???

    So all a politician has to do is write his or her position in a letter to the editor and we are supposed to take it as gospel? What about his record on the issue? Did he encourage participation in 297g when he was Chair of the Fairfax Board? I sure he would also state that he supports education, transportation, apple pie, motherhood and the American flag too…sure, I believe him.

  7. Gainesville Resident

    The great majority of those in jail deserve to be referred to the 287(g) program – I don’t know how there could be any abuse anyway. I thought everyone was supposed to have their status checked and then referred to it. So how could it be abused anyway? A false report? That just doesn’t make sense.

  8. Good point, GR. Everyone carted off to jail has had status checked. I forgot about that.

    Does anyone remember the justification for having 287(g)? What was not happening before we had it here in the county and city?

  9. kelly3406

    Gerry Connelly voted for the House version of the healthcare bill and will vote for the reconciled bill in whatever form the current House Leadership presents. He voted for Cap and Trade. He voted to increase the National Public Debt Limit. He voted for the Estate Tax exclusion to be lowered to $1.5 million. He volunteered Virginia to carry out the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

    Throwing a bone to Prince William County by funding 287(g) is not sufficient to make me forget his horrid performance on all the other important issues.

  10. How about an update on that Estate tax exlusion? What finally happened with that bill?

  11. All Polits–I would think having something in writing from a politico would make it much easier to hold feet to the fire. Welcome back.

  12. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    Old Beaver-Teeth would follow his Master Pelosi right off the cliff.

  13. @Moon-howler
    I think the abuses come when there is no oversight of jurisdictions running the programs. Here is one article (below) that does talk about Sheriff Joe but makes the point that 287g can be used in tandem with racial profiling. Additionally, many immigrants who are citizens have actually been deported via this program (not that I want criminals hanging around, but when that happens, we violate Constitutional rights). I would like to think these cases are uncommon.

    An excerpt from the article:

    –Although Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said the program was intended to address “serious crime . . . committed by removable aliens,” the GAO reported that, of 29 local agencies reviewed, four said they used their 287(g) authority to process for removal immigrants stopped for minor violations such as speeding, carrying an open container of alcohol and urinating in public, “contrary to the objective of the program.”–

    http://washingtonindependent.com/32926/scrutiny-of-immigration-policy-finds-wide-spread-abuse

  14. Witness Too

    Around here 287(g) is a middle of the road compromise. Chief Deane recommended 287(g) months before the Immigration Resolution. When we realized the Immigration Resolution was unconstitutional, we had an embarrassing community melt down that included members of the BOCS screaming “point of order” 10 times in a row like a child throwing a tantrum, and citizens behaving as if hatred and threats of violence are somehow a political asset.

    Then it all went away when the Immigration Resolution got snip-snipped or neutered or repealed or whatever you want to call it. Falling back to 287(g) was the compromise we could all live with. Connolly, like the majority of our Board, is a middle of the road guy would would not want to rock the boat and go outside the norm for this area. It’s his job to represent what the people can agree upon.

    I think the majority of our Board, including 4 Republicans and 2 Democrats, would probably agree with Connolly’s statement here. Actually, all 8 of them probably would now that Stewart and Stirrup have backed away from immigration only politics.

  15. Witness Too

    Pinko, I hear you about the abuses. That is why only a fraction of the counties in the nation have 287(g). It does lead to abuses, and when there are abuses, it leads to bad policing that makes all residents less safe. But we have a first rate Police Chief in Prince William County. We know that if there are abuses, the officers will be held accountable. There has been a slight uptick in crime since the community meltdown I mentioned, but this is not because of our police department. Crime has gone up IN SPITE of the fine work of our police department, with trust in the police going down largely due to the antics of elected officials and not the behavior of our officers.

  16. @Witness Too
    WT, I agree we have an excellent police department, and I recall the series of events that led to our adopting 287g. Unfortunately, not every jurisdiction has a Chief Deane and not every cop is a “good guy.” As you point out, those are the exact reasons why only 100 or so localities have signed on with 287g. There is still too much room for abuse. With a little tweaking, though, I think the program could be viable nation-wide.

  17. We don’t need 287g to have police abuse. We have have it anywhere, any time. The question needs to be asked, how many non-latinos are arrested for driving without a license or being drunk in public? Is this abuse? Do we just let people drive without licenses?

    I don’t think that the program has been abused in PWC or MC. Perhaps the oversight and leadership is here. Or…perhaps those with the mind-set of Sheriff Joe simply weren’t allowed to take control.

  18. Gainesville Resident

    I still don’t see how 287g can be abused. Someone winds up in jail, their status is checked, if they are found to be illegal they are referred to 287g.

    If the point being made that it is before they end up in jail – well that’s outside of 287g so it has not much to do with it. Even without any kind of referral program to immigration, if someone wanted to racial profile they would. I don’t see how 287g has any bearing on that.

    The problem about comparing driving without license statistics is, given that illegal aliens cannot have a valid driver’s license – and the percentage of illegal aliens for hispanics has to be much larger than the percentage of illegal aliens for non-hispanics – I can see someone finding out those statistics and once again twisting them around by saying – “see, there’s a much higher ratio of hispanics being cited and arrrested for driving without a valid license than non-hispanics”. It’s almost in my opinion the same thing that actually was done with the foreclosure statistic comparisons between PWC and other jurisdictions. Washington Post was an example of being guilty of trumpeting the fact that PWC was so much higher and directly linking it to the resolution, and completely ignoring the fact that PWC had so many more neighborhoods that were prone to foreclosures due to high risk types of loans, etc. etc.

    Now, drunk in public, that might be a more meaningful statistical comparison, then driving without a license.

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