Program with Arpaio defended by top ICE official
ICE official: Migrants in U.S. without criminal records cannot be ignored
A top U.S. immigration-enforcement official on Wednesday defended a federal program that lets local jail officials from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office check the immigration status of people booked into jail.
During a large protest on Saturday in Phoenix that drew 10,000 people, immigrant-rights advocates called on the Department of Homeland Security to end the program, saying some Valley police officers are engaging in racial profiling by arresting Latinos for minor crimes in order to check their immigration status during the booking process.
But John Morton, the assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said that is “not in practice what we have seen in the program” known as 287 (g).
Harold
