DUNCAN – Stephens County Sheriff Rick Lang has rolled out the welcome mat to ICE.
The Board of County Commissioners approved a Memorandum of Agreement between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Stephens County on behalf of the Sheriff’s Department. In that agreement, ICE, “a component” of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, delegates to the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office authority to perform certain immigration enforcement functions “as specified in the MOA.”
The MOA, which was signed by Undersheriff Patrick Norton on Aug. 17, provides that:
•“Selected” personnel in the sheriff’s office “will be nominated, trained, and … approved by ICE to perform certain functions of an immigration officer under the direction and supervision of ICE” within the jurisdiction of the sheriff’s department.
•The exercise of the immigration enforcement authority granted in the MOA “shall occur only as provided” in the agreement.
•ICE officers will provide “direction and supervision” for participating Stephens County Sheriff’s Department personnel “only las to immigration enforcement functions authorized” in the MOA.
•Before performing immigration officer functions, Stephens County law enforcement officers must “successfully complete mandatory training” provided by ICE instructors “on relevant administrative, legal, and operational issues tailored to the immigration enforcement functions… and pass examinations equivalent to those given to ICE officers.”
•Only Stephens County deputies “who are nominated, trained, certified, and authorized” will have the authority to “conduct the delegated immigration officer functions, under ICE direction and supervision...” Participating Stephens County law enforcement officer performing immigration-related duties will be assigned to “various units, teams, or task forces designed by ICE.”
Under the Trump administration, the U.S. Department of Justice has joined Homeland Security and ICE in their immigration enforcement efforts and combating cross border crime. The Justice Department program is called “Operation Take Back America,” a nationwide initiative to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, eliminate cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect U.S. communities from foreign perpetrators of violent crime.
Specific tasks
ICE-trained Stephens County officers will be authorized to perform specific functions in accordance with the ICE MOA, including:
•The power and authority to interrogate any alien or person believed to be an alien as to his/her right to be or remain in the United States and to process for immigration violations those individuals who have been arrested for state or federal criminal offenses.
•The power to serve and execute warrants of arrest for immigration violations.
•The power and authority to arrest, without a warrant, any alien entering or attempting to unlawfully enter the United States in the officer’s presence or view, or any alien in the U.S. “if the officer has reason to believe the alien to be arrested is in the U.S. in violation of law and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained.”
•The power to arrest, without warrant, for felonies which have been committed and which are cognizable under any law of the U.S. regulating the admission, exclusion, expulsion, or removal of aliens, of the officer has reason to believe the alien to be arrested is in the U.S. in violation of law and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained.
•The “power and authority” to take and consider evidence and to complete required alien processing to include fingerprinting, photographing, and interviewing, as well as the preparation of affidavits and taking sworn statements for ICE supervisory review.
•The power and authority to prepare charging documents.
•The power and authority to issue immigration detainers for aliens in categories established by ICE supervisors.
•The power and authority to take and maintain custody of aliens arrested by ICE, or another state or local law enforcement agency on behalf of ICE.
•The power and authority to take and maintain custody of aliens arrested pursuant to immigration laws and transport them to ICE-approved detention facilities.
Officer selection
The “chief officer” of the department, Sheriff Lang, “will nominate candidates for initial training and certification” in accordance with the MOA.
ICE “may request any information necessary” for a background check and to evaluate a candidate’s “suitability” to participate in the enforcement of immigration policy. Every candidate must have at least two years of lawenforcement experience.
All candidates must be approved by ICE and must be able to qualify for “appropriate federal security clearances and access to appropriate DHS and ICE databases/ systems and associated applications.”
The Stephens County Sheriff’s Department is “responsible for personnel expenses” of its participating officers – including salaries and benefits, local transportation, and official issue material – when they perform “designated functions” on behalf of ICE.
The Sheriff’s Office also will be responsible for “the salaries and benefits, including any overtime, of all of its personnel being trained or performing duties” in accordance with the MOA “and of those personnel performing the regular functions of” the department “while they are receiving training.”
ICE will be responsible for travel expenses of the department while they are in “a training status.” Those bills include housing, per diem, and all transportation costs associated with getting to and from training.
If a conflict arises between an order or direction of an ICE supervisor and Stephens County Sheriff’s Department rules, standards or policies, the conflict “shall be promptly reported to ICE and the sheriff or his designee “when circumstances safely allow the concern to be raised.” ICE and the sheriff will then “attempt to resolve the conflict.”
Public information
The Stephens County Sheriff’s Department “agrees to coordinate with ICE” prior to releasing any information “relating to, or exchanged under,” the Memorandum of Agreement.
For any release of information to the news media, the sheriff’s department “must coordinate in advance with the ICE Office of Public Affairs, which will consult with ICE Privacy Office for approval prior to any release.”
An appendix attached to the MOA listed the following “points of contact” for “any release of information to the media regarding actions under this MOA”:
•Stephens County Undersheriff Patrick Norton (telephone (580) 255-3131)
•Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Office of Public Affairs (no telephone number listed).
Southwest Ledger tried twice last week to contact Sheriff Lang. A newspaper reporter called him early in the week and left a message, but he never responded.
Another Ledger reporter called his office at 3:52 p.m. Friday and asked to speak to the sheriff, but the woman who answered the telephone said he “is not in” and she was “not sure” whether he was returning to the office that day.