Berrien County Sheriff Chuck Heit has been asked to rescind an agreement he signed with Customs and Immigration Enforcement enabling the county sheriff’s department to release jail inmates to ICE when requested.
Heit attended a town hall on Wednesday in St. Joseph where advocates of the immigrant community said the 287(g) agreement with ICE has created a threatening environment that’s caused local immigrants to avoid going out in public for fear of being detained. Heit stressed the agreement only applies to inmates who have been arrested for some other reason and then identified as having an ICE hold.
“This only affects those that are in jail that already have a warrant on them,” Heit said. “So if you get booked in, if the fingerprints are run, there is an administrative hold. We would hold them for up to 48 hours.”
Heit said the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department has only signed on to one of three possible “modules” under a 287(g) — the holding of inmates when requested. He said others, like the task force module, “goes way too far,” and he has no interest in taking part in it.
Some in the packed house weren’t satisfied.
One woman asked, “How can you justify these actions on behalf of we citizens of Berrien County without asking for our input on that?”
“Again, we do not do the transport,” Heit said. “We do the hold…The hold has been in place for many years and we do it for other agencies as well.”
Heit said last year, there were 46 such cases in the county, and so far this year, there have been 15. He added his department does not engage in immigration enforcement and never asks people in the community about their status. This only applies at the jail.
“I would, again, argue this is the least invasive and also the safest place to deal with an immigration hold, so when they’re already in custody,” Heit said.
Speakers at the event questioned whether this policy leads to racial profiling and asked why Berrien is one of the few counties in Michigan to have such an agreement with ICE. Heit said an agreement like this has been in place locally for more than 25 years.
A letter signed by members of the immigrant community asking for the agreement’s repeal was read to the sheriff.
“Due to the 287(g) agreement and fear of being racially profiled, many of the migrant families that have previously come to plant and cultivate our foods no longer wish to come work in our county,” it read.
Heit did accept the letter but didn’t say if the agreement with ICE will change. He said he appreciated the opportunity to clarify for everyone what the ICE agreement means, stressing the sheriff’s department does not take part in ICE enforcement operations.
State Representative Joey Andrews, also on hand for the town hall, said while he may disagree with Heit on many things, he believes the sheriff is genuinely trying to do right for the county and appreciates him coming to speak with concerned residents. Andrews said there’s a bigger problem that he sees.
“What we are seeing all over the place right now is that the federal government is undermining the trust in our institutions all over the place,” Andrews said. “The reason that this conversation is happening is because there is now a fundamental breach in trust between our community and our local law enforcement because of federal actions causing us to question who it is we can trust anymore.”
Andrews said that’s happening “all across our system right now,” something that he believes is tearing at the fabric of society and communities. He warned the nation is on a bad path if that fundamental trust is being eroded.
Wednesday’s event was organized by the We the People Action Fund.
