Image Credit: commission.knoxcountytn.gov & Canva
The Tennessee Conservative [By Adelia Kirchner] –
Knox County commissioners passed a resolution on Monday, showing support for the county’s participation in the 287(g) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program.
The county has been enrolled in the federal immigration enforcement program for just over five years.
According to Knox County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) records, they lost approximately $128,000 between January and May of this year as a result of their partnership with ICE.
However, Knox County Sheriff Tom Spangler recently defended the department’s decision to continue its partnership with ICE, saying that the situation wasn’t any different from their state inmates.
“We don’t make any money from our state inmates because they pay us $41 or $49 a day. Feds pay us $114 a day,” said Spangler. “Any time that our state inmates are there and they’re there for long periods of time, where our ICE inmates are in there for two to three days. It’s a revolving door. They’re in and out.”
Still, there is a bit of dissent from some Knox County residents.
“It makes our communities divided between law enforcement and residents,” one member of the public commented during an August 25th meeting of the Knox County Commission. “Let’s be clear about this program, it makes our local law enforcement act as federal immigration agents, it shifts the mission of the sheriff’s office away from protecting the public safety for all residents, and instead turns into an arm of the federal immigration enforcement.”
Despite backlash, the county commission ultimately voted in favor of the resolution with Commissioner Angela Russell stating that the vote wasn’t a decision about whether the county would participate, but a decision about whether they would support their local law enforcement.
“This isn’t a matter of us choosing what we want done. It’s a matter of do we support the poor boys—like in Vietnam—who are having to go and do this job,” said Russell. “And that is the reason I will be supporting it.”
The KCSO signed on to the 287(g) program’s jail enforcement model (JEM).
Under this model, jail and prison workers can identify and process individuals with criminal or pending criminal charges who have been arrested by state or local law enforcement agencies and lack U.S. citizenship.
The two other 287(g) models that local and state law enforcement agencies can operate under include the warrant service officer (WSO), task force model (TFM).
As of this article’s publication, there are two state agencies and 20 counties across Tennessee participating in the enforcement program.
This includes the most recent addition of Sparta-White County which signed on under the task force model on August 6th.
As of Thursday, a total of 896 agencies/counties across 40 different states have signed onto the 287(g) program.
According to the ICE website, there are an additional 80 pending program applications.
About the Author: Adelia Kirchner is a Tennessee resident and reporter for the Tennessee Conservative. Currently the host of Subtle Rampage Podcast, she has also worked for the South Dakota State Legislature and interned for Senator Bill Hagerty’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee. You can reach Adelia at adelia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
One Response
Good.