UC Berkeley report criticizes US immigration enforcement

Aarti Kohli is Director of Immigration Policy at the Warren Institute, part of Berkeley Law.
Danish Saeed/Staff
Aarti Kohli is Director of Immigration Policy at the Warren Institute, part of Berkeley Law.

Contention surrounds a report the UC Berkeley School of Law released Wednesday that analyzed the effects of the U.S. immigration enforcement program.

According to the report, the current immigration system pushes individuals through the process of deportation without allowing for sufficient opportunity to challenge the verdict or legal counsel.

Secure Communities — a program under the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — checks immigration status by comparing fingerprints of individuals who are arrested — regardless of immigration status — against a database of people who have interacted with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The program’s system may have led to the increased use of racial profiling by law enforcement, according to the study, which stated that 93 percent of the cases in the sample group were Latinos — over 15 percent more than the Latino population of undocumented immigrants.

However, according to Secure Communities, the report failed to acknowledge the ways in which the program has enhanced public safety.

“ICE is transforming and modernizing immigration enforcement in a smart and effective manner to focus resources on identifying and removing individuals that are committing crimes in violation of state criminal laws in addition to immigration violation, said Virginia Kice, spokesperson for the agency, in a statement.

But the report, which was based on data that the agency supplied, suggests that although the program claims to focus on undocumented criminals, most of the cases involve individuals who committed very minor crimes, said Aarti Kohli, director of immigration policy at the campus law school’s Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy and co-author of the report.

“ICE will detain any noncitizen who has committed a crime, but this can be anyone who has just ran a traffic light — these are not common sense criminals,” Kohli said.

Once in the program, it is more likely that detained individuals will be deported than if detained through another federal program. Only 2 percent of cases in the Secure Communities program are released, as opposed to the 14 percent in other government programs. According to the report, one potential explanation for the low percentage of relief is that only 24 percent of the cases who had hearings received legal counsel compared to 41 percent nationwide.

The report found that 1.6 percent of those apprehended — or about 3,600 individuals — were U.S. citizens. Additionally, 39 percent of those arrested have a family member who is a U.S. citizen.

“You think they would have compelling cases if they had the opportunity to be in front of a judge,” Kohli said. “The lack of due process is disturbing, and while things may be legal, is this the way we want to run our nation?”

The agency said it denies any conclusion that suggests that it has detained U.S. citizens.

“If there is a question about an individual’s status, ICE conducts appropriate follow-up,” Kice said in the statement. “If the individual is a U.S. citizen, ICE takes no additional action. In exercising its civil immigration functions, ICE does not detain U.S. citizens.”

Kohli plans to conduct a follow up report seeking to explain the disproportionate number of Latinos arrested on immigration charges.

“ICE says that we investigate the citizenship of foreign-born people, but it doesn’t appear they are investigating, but that they are arresting,” Kohli said. “It’s arrest first, investigate later.”

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Archived Comments (14)

  1. mark says:

    “has just ran”? “not common sense criminals”? I guess it’s too much to expect that the “director” of a university law school program could manage not to make grammar/syntactical errors that freshmen admits are supposed to be past.
    As for the  content of the report, the whole thing is a joke since the Feds aren’t doing anything about the “sanctuary” policies, which add up to a welcome mat for anybody who shows up. State-level policies like California’s (unstated) policy of not doing anything about the fake ID industry add to the burden. Recently a repeat DUI offender in Massachusetts killed a citizen, governor Deval Patrick refused to acknowledge the preventable death with the usual blather about the need for “comprehensive (amnesty) immigration reform”. Similarly, the recent death of the 4-year old run over in Santa Rosa by an illegal with pending cases for driving with no license (the “director” would likely find this to be “very minor”)–the perp was caught only because a citizen with a police band radio heard the accident call and spotted the perp frantically scratching off his Giants decal and then celling his mama to come get him (she of course wasn’t charged as any kind of accessory to the crime even though she tried to abet his escape).
    Take a look at immigrationshumancost.org if you dare for a sample of what the “diversity” religion is doing to this country. Casualties or war for the globalist traitors.

  2. Somebody says:

    UC Berkeley should mind it’s own business and let ICE do it’s job.  If this were any other country, illegal aliens would be a non-debatable issue.  ICE weed out people that have no legal standing.  

    It doesn’t make sense to educate American citizens to communicate at a college level English, but do almost baby talk and sign language on the weekends at restaurants and retail stores for employees that don’t care to assimilate to this country.  It doesn’t make sense to have multiple languages on products when English is the international adopted language.  It doesn’t make sense to have so many government forms in different languages costing taxpayers extra.  It doesn’t make sense to navigate phone menus for English only.  Illegal aliens dilute the patriotism of this country.  Farming is completely industrialized.  Retail is shifting to self-serve and online.  Restaurants are becoming too expensive.  Illegal aliens have exhausted our goodwill and need to return home with their children and capitalize what they have learned here.  America can’t grant political asylum just because you want to be rich here.  UC Berkeley is out of touch with reality, assuming reality functions solely on fiscal responsibility.   Ever since the private schools outbid Berkeley for prestigious faculty, it’s becoming harder and harder for this school to remain nationally relevant and credible.  For Berkeley to comment on Federal policy but gouge students an arm and leg to fund their pensioners while cutting back access to students, reeks of delusions of grandeur.It’s idiotic waste of academic resources that makes it hard for alums to donate back to their university compared to other private schools.

  3. ICE Agents R Criminals says:

    ICE agents just like the regular police, violation of constitutional rights is common place:
    http://www.aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/we-dont-need-warrant-were-ice
    When asked if they had a warrant, one agent reportedly said, “We don’t
    need a warrant, we’re ICE,” and, gesturing to his genitals, “the
    warrant is coming out of my balls.”

  4. Dave Francis says:

     

     

    These immigration issues calls for a Congressional corrections,
    after the ’2006 Secure Fence act’ is resurrected and built as planned. This was
    a double-layer fence parallel to each other, as signed into law by former
    president Bush. Currently waiting in the wings is Lamar Smith’s ‘Legal
    Workforce Act’ that disinclined GOP leaders who are wavering in bringing (H.R. 2885 bill) to the floor of the
    House. It’s blatantly obvious the usual suspects have been whining at these
    lawmakers door, from the Special Interest lobbyists.

     

    In a study by the (FAIR) Federation of American Immigration
    Reform, they have estimated that somewhere between 20 million and upwards of
    illegal immigrants have unlawful roots here, not the numbers offered by
    previous or today’s administrations. The investment firm analysts for Bear-Stearns
    claimed that the US illegal immigrant population, also agreed with this number
    of 20 million people.” This was prior to the demise of the company in
    2008.

     

    Much of these illegal entries has attributed to the 49
    Percent of poverty in the United States. Since 1963 the U.S. has spent over $11
    trillion on anti-poverty programs, given out money, food, Section 8 housing,
    medical care, and assistance to the poor and near underprivileged. Since the
    immigration reforms of the 1960s, the U.S. has imported unsustainable poverty
    through immigration measures that were permitted and encouraged entry and the residence
    of millions of low-skill immigrants into the nation. Low-skill migrants and immigrants
    are liable to be poor, having babies who, in turn, are adding to America’s propagating
    poverty problem, driving up governmental benefits, public service, and
    education costs. We are now topping $113 billion dollars annually, as according
    to the Heritage Foundation.

     

    Under the Liberals, Democrats and GOP elitists nothing will
    ever be done, against the increasing numbers of foreign nationals coming here. The
    subsidizing costs are reaching astronomical unprecedented dollars, especially
    if President Obama passes Amnesty; if the voters offer him a second four year
    term a reform package would devastate any chance of climbing out this deepening
    recession. A 2.6 Trillion price tag as analyzed by the Heritage Foundation.

     

    Get in touch with Members of the Ways
    & Means Committee to phone or fax for free at NumbersUSA. You can also
    contact all these lawmakers through their Internet websites. But you insist on
    the Legal Workforce Act today and start putting Americans back to a job, taken
    by foreign nationals.

     

    Bombard Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) ((202-225-0600); House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) (202-225-2815); House
    Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) (202) 225-2915); House Chairman of Ways
    & Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) (202-225-3561).

    NEBRASKA, Rep. Berg, Rick (GOP) (202-225-2611)
    ; NEBRASKA, Rep. Smith, Adrian (GOP) (202-225-6435);
    LOUISIANA, Rep. Boustany, Charles (GOP) (202-225-2031);
    (202-225-2031);
    KENTUCKY, Rep. Davis, Geoff (GOP) (202-225-3465);
    PENNSYLVANIA, Rep. Gerlach, Jim (GOP)(202-225-4315);
    KANSAS, Rep. Jenkins, Lynn (GOP)(202-225-6601);
    MINNESOTA, Rep. Paulsen, Erik (GOP)(202-225-2871);
    WASHINGTON, Rep. Reichert, Dave (GOP) (202-225-7761);
    WISCONSIN, Rep. Ryan, Paul (GOP) (202-225-3031) Tell
    these unwilling lawmakers that you are a voter and that they will be hearing
    from you in 2012.

     

     First on the lists, a Bracero type program, to
    allow workers to be admitted for farm employment and agriculture legally, who
    can then—BE TRACKED–if they abscond from the jobs allocated to them? Between
    1942 and 1964, some 4.6 million Mexicans were admitted to do farm work and despite
    protests from US farm labor advocacy groups there was no lack of labor, only a shortage
    of respectable living wages and decent working conditions. By paying a fair
    wage, but their conditions must include health care, schooling for their kids—not
    placed as a financial burden on taxpayers as it mostly is today.   The
    Bracero project should be resurrected as with the 2006 Secure Fence Act with two
    fences–instead of the half–completed one fence we have now and decked with nasty
    concertina razor wire.

     

    Give a priority to highly skilled
    workers, with proven credentials of exceptional experiences and offer
    preferences to entrepreneurs, and wealthy businessman and women who can
    contribute to American society. Stop the travesty of the million legal
    immigrants a year, who are being covertly brought here by corporate
    owners through Department of Labor immigration loopholes. Through financial
    necessity we must reduce and stop illegal immigration at the porous borders,
    using one way flight tickets and using every tool available to seek out those
    already here. IF SOVEREIGNTY MINDED, PATRIOTIC AMERICANS WANT THERE COUNTRY
    BACK, AND THEN JOIN THE TENS OF MILLIONS OF MEMBERS OF THE TEA PARTY BRANCHES
    THROUGHOUT OUR NATION. THE TEA PARTY IS AN OPEN, FORUM FOR EVERY CITIZEN AND
    LEGAL RESIDENT, NO MATTER A PERSON RACE OR SPIRITUAL STANDING.

    Certainly in
    2012 we must safe-guard our elections, as illegal aliens do vote and as its
    been predominately shown before.

  5. Guest says:

    How exactly is running a traffic light NOT a crime?  In order for an illegal to be arrested for running a red light, they need to commit a significant number of crimes:
    1) Illegally crossing the border.
    2) Either obtaining a driver license with false documents, or driving without a license.
    3) Running a red light in front of a cop.  If someone actually gets caught for running a light, they almost certainly do it on a regular basis.
    As far as I care, a 1.6% false positive rate is pretty damn good.  Also, there is absolutely nothing wrong with racial profiling: if 85% of illegal immigrants are Hispanic, then it’s certainly reasonable to concentrate enforcement efforts on Hispanics (especially since they are the only ones who can illegally cross the border with no paper trail, as opposed to overstaying a visa).  Maybe the Berkeley nutjobs think otherwise, but who gives a crap?

  6. Anonymous says:

    Berkeley School of Law is infamous for criticizing the fairness of a law by dredging up statistics to show how minorities are disproportionally affected by the law, even when the law is color-blind.   Affirmative Action for criminals.  So what if 15% more Latinos were deported than their sample population?  Maybe they commit more crimes than other illegal immigrant ethnic groups because they can sneak across the borders at will to avoid prosecution and they have frequent contact with border drug smugglers.  Maybe they come from cities where traffic laws are not enforced and drinking while driving is acceptable.  Sanctuary cities like Berkeley are already sending them the message that federal immigration laws don’t really apply to them and anything they do is not really illegal, so why should they worry about stinkin’ misdemeanors?  Besides, if a gringo’s car  gets hit by an uninsured illegal alien with no ID, the gringo’s insurance will pay since gringos are all privileged and part of the 1%, verdad? 

    • Tony M says:

      But ya gotta admit, it’s kind of funny how people think there’s some devious racial agenda at play when the majority of people apprehended at the Mexican border are Mexicans. Just more proof how far out in left field these people are…

      • Tony Luvs To Fail says:

        The report is not about border detentions, it is about nation-wide post arrest deportation.
        Ya gotta admit it’s kind of funny when your statements are easily exposed as irrelevant.
        As always Tony M is just trolling, that’s why his position doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

        • Tony M says:

          [The report is not about border detentions, it is about nation-wide post arrest deportation.]

          The majority of illegal aliens in this country are hispanics, and the largest percentage is from Mexico, given that it is our next door neighbor. Most people understand that the predominant lawbreakers are from X, that anyone enforcing the law is more likely to stop and apprehend people from X than any other location. Only liberals find this to be inexplicable and become outraged.

          • Oh Please says:

            “Since you posted the same comment on the other article on this subject, I will post the same reply.”
            LOLWAT?!?
            you must be mistaken, or you think I’m responsible for more comments than I actually am,
            save the arguments Tony M,
            an honest reading of the majority of your comments makes clear you first purpose in posting at DC is making trouble and actual airing of sincerely held views is a distant second at best,
            and that understanding of why you post is going to motivate how I respond

          • Tony M says:

            [you must be mistaken, or you think I'm responsible for more comments than I actually am]

            Given that the other comment was nearly identical in wording, and included similar disparaging comments, it’s a safe assumption that the same person posted it, unless you are all drones reciting from the same playbook.

            [an honest reading of the majority of your comments makes clear you first purpose in posting at DC is making trouble and actual airing of sincerely held views is a distant second at best]

            So you’re honestly suggesting I am not sincere about my views?

        • Tony M says:

          [The report is not about border detentions, it is about nation-wide post arrest deportation.]

          Since you posted the same comment on the other article on this subject, I will post the same reply. The majority of illegal aliens in this country are hispanics, and the largest percentage is from Mexico, given that it is our next door neighbor. Most people understand that if the predominant lawbreakers have X characteristic, that anyone enforcing the law is more likely to stop and apprehend people with that same X characteristic than any other group. This is completely logical to most people with common sense. Only liberals find this to be inexplicable and become outraged.

  7. BHO Just More Lies says:

    The Obama Administration LIED to the cities all across the US about whether they were required to participate in the “Secure Communities” program. Shady is as shady does.
    http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/23/local/la-me-immig-jails-20110423
    http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-05-01/opinion/30222128_1_immigration-laws-fingerprints-customs-enforcement

    Top ICE official in Southern FL arrested for possession of teh sea pea:
    http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/27/2427766/head-of-ice-in-south-florida-arrested.html