Meeting with the Sheriff

Found myself at the Sheriff's office on Wednesday. Fortunately in the conference room instead of the jail - hadn't planned on arrest, at least not quite yet. A group of folks loosely allied with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and their People Power movement met with Sheriff David Walcher of the Arapahoe County Government pursuant to the ACLU's "Freedom Cities" initiative.

Sheriff Walcher was exceedingly generous with his time and his explanations. Law enforcement in our sprawling county of 630,000 people isn't simple, but the Sheriff and his patrol officers have a straightforward mission, which is to maintain the public safety. In response to our concerns about racial or religious profiling, the Sheriff noted that his officers look only for behavior that is outside of the law and/or endangers public safety. Officers on the street are not interested in a person's immigration status unless it is relevant to a criminal investigation. Furthermore, the Sheriff does not want people to feel uncomfortable reporting crime or providing witness, which they do if they feel their status in the country is in jeopardy. The Sheriff also noted that complaints about racial, religious or gender profiling are taken seriously and deputies have been relieved of duties when that has proven true.

His explanations were a relief to me, since Daniel is Guatemalan and in some counties in North Carolina, for instance, would be in danger of being pulled over and asked about his legal status just for "driving Latino." In my thank - you note to Sheriff Walcher, I mentioned my personal concerns and told him that during my last visit to the Sheriff's office nine years ago, when I was fingerprinted for the adoption, I could never have guessed that our youngest might have different issues with the law than our older two children.

The Sheriff did note that all arrest information went into the Colorado database, which communicates with federal databases, including ICE. Therefore, ICE officers can see if an undocumented person has been brought in on other charges, and they can and often do issue detainer requests, which seek to put a "hold" on the undocumented person.  Though Arapahoe County cooperates fully with its federal partners, they cannot legally hold a person on an ICE detainer. A judge in Oregon ruled several years ago that because an ICE detainer does not undergo judicial review, it does not allow officials to hold an individual past the 48 hours allowed by the writ of habeas corpus.

So it was a surprise to see that Colorado Sheriffs are on the new "Trump Immigration Shaming List" (http://www.denverpost.com/2017/03/22/colorado-sheriffs-wont-be-shamed-ice-naughty-list/). The list includes jails and jurisdictions that it says have not cooperated with detainer requests. However, as Sheriff Walcher explained, local jails and jurisdictions cannot - under the constitution - hold individuals under an ICE detainer requests. Also, local police are not paid to do federal work, nor do they wish do to the job of the federal agencies. Local police (at least in Boulder, Denver, and Arapahoe Counties) wish to maintain the trust of people living in their communities in order to better maintain public safety. Shame on the administration for attempting to shame the good sheriffs and deputies of Colorado as they work to keep all people safe.