Scholarship@WashULaw

Document Type

News Article

Publication Date

2009

Publication Title

The Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity & Diversity: Policy Brief

Abstract

The goal of the Criminal Alien Program (CAP) is to improve safety by promoting federal-local partnerships to target serious criminal offenders for deportation. Indeed, the U.S. Congress has made clear that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “should have no greater immigration enforcement priority than to remove deportable aliens with serious criminal histories from the United States…” The Warren Institute’s analysis of arrest data pursuant to an ICE-local partnership in Irving, Texas demonstrates that ICE is not following Congress’ mandate to focus resources on the deportation of immigrants with serious criminal histories.

This study also shows that immediately after Irving, Texas law enforcement had 24-hour access (via telephone and video teleconference) to ICE in the local jail, discretionary arrests of Hispanics for petty offenses — particularly minor traffic offenses — rose dramatically. This report probes the marked rise in low-level arrests of Hispanics. Specifically, the report examines whether there was an increase in lawless behavior in the Hispanic community in Irving or whether there was a change in local policing priorities. The Warren Institute’s study of arrest data finds strong evidence to support claims that Irving police engaged in racial profiling of Hispanics in order to filter them through the CAP screening system.

Keywords

Racial Profiling, Immigration Law, ICE, Criminal Alien Program (CAP), C.A.P., CE ACCESS (Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security), DEPORT (Detention Enforcement and Processing Offenders by Remote Technology), Police

Publication Citation

Trevor George Gardner and Aarti Kohli, The C.A.P. Effect: Racial Profiling in the ICE Criminal Alien Program, The Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy, Berkeley Law Center, (September 2009)

Comments

Berkeley Law Center for Research and Administration
2850 Telegraph Ave., Suite 500
Berkeley, CA 94705
Phone: (510) 642-8568 Fax: (510) 643-7095
http://www.warreninstitute.org

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