FIRST MICHIGAN COUNTY SIGNS 287(g) AGREEMENT TO WORK WITH ICE

Jackson County, located in southeastern Michigan between Ann Arbor and Detroit, is the first county in Michigan to sign the controversial 287(g) agreement that gives local police the authority to question people they stop about their immigration status. This program began many years ago and has been widely used in the southern United States, but until now, never in a county here in Michigan. Unfortunately, Jackson County and its sheriff, who is a Republican, signed the 287(g) agreement with ICE a few weeks ago.  The Latino community in this county, although not very large, has existed for many years. This measure also affects those who travel on Interstate 94 between Chicago and Detroit, which concerns us even more.

Under this agreement, local police can not only stop people for speeding or other traffic violations, but they can also ask them for information about their immigration status and detain them for later referral to immigration authorities. Several Jackson County citizens, groups, and immigrant civil rights lawyers are protesting this action, but it will be very difficult to stop it. For now, we can only advise people who live in or travel through this area to be very careful and not give the local police any excuse to stop them.

In the coming weeks, we will have more information on this issue and will be demanding that other counties not follow this bad example, which only increases discrimination against Latinos, including those who already have legal status as citizens and legal permanent residents.

TRUMP AND HIS JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FIRE IMMIGRATION JUDGES AND PLAN TO FIRE EVEN MORE

The Department of Justice, which is responsible for the administrative offices of the immigration courts, has fired 20 judges. The curious thing is that this is happening at a time when the courts are more backlogged than ever, with more than 3 million cases pending. Supposedly, the reason is to save the government money, which makes no sense, and it appears that some of the judges who were fired were the newest and most liberal, who in most cases were making decisions in favor of immigrants.

It makes no sense that when more judges are needed than ever so that people do not have to wait years for their cases to be resolved, they are instead being fired, most likely because of the judges' political ideology rather than any other reason.

The union representing the judges is filing a formal complaint, and we hope this will be resolved. Although judges are not perfect, they are necessary to resolve as quickly as possible the cases of people who are in the process of deportation. In short, this is another example of the madness of the Trumpers and their attempt to violate the rights of immigrants or make their lives more difficult.