ACLU SoCal issues statement on L.A. Board of Supervisors vote to renew 287(g)

Please attribute the statement to Hector Villagra, executive director at the ACLU of Southern California.

The ACLU of Southern California (ACLU SoCal) is extremely disappointed that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted today to renew the county's involvement with the Department of Homeland Security’s 287(g) program that purports to deport individuals convicted of a felony. This discredited program doesn’t deliver what it promises. What it does do is subject thousands of county residents to racial profiling and unlawful detention in an overcrowded jail system. Today, the supervisors missed yet another opportunity to address a serious problem in the jails. Supervisor Gloria Molina insists that there is an absence of evidence to end the program. Sadly, the supervisor has chosen to ignore a mountain of evidence, including DHS’s own published statistics on the program that clearly indicate that vast majority of individuals deported under the 287(g) agreement had not been convicted of a serious crime, or had no criminal history. In 2010, 80% of the people identified for deportation under this program were not convicted of a serious felony. The supervisors should have tabled this matter until a new sheriff is in office before drawing the county and its resources into a program that compromises the civil rights of detainees and undermines public trust in the Sheriff's Department.

Contact: Sandra Hernandez, 213.977.5252, shernandez@aclusocal.org