Approximately 100 rowdy protesters filled nearly every seat and lined up with signs on three walls surrounding the leaders ofthe Knox County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Wednesday morning inside the Small Assembly Room of the City County Building.
The crowd was attending the two bodies’ first required 287(g) steering committee meeting.
ICE and KCSOsigned a memorandum of agreement in June 2017 that laid out the plans for KCSO’s responsibilities in the program, training and allowing a certain number of local deputies to be acting ICE agents.
When ICE spokesman Bryan Cox and Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones, spoke, they were constantly interrupted by shouts from the crowd whichheld up white sheets of paper and signs protesting the program.
The signs included “Tell the truth”, “287(g)” with a red line slashed through it, a “resist” hat, “End 287(g),” “shame!”
Knox County is the only jurisdiction in the state participating in this federal program.
The meeting quickly became rowdy and while Cox and Jones stayed to answer questions, the formal meeting ended with a handful of questions getting answered.
At one point in the meeting, the crowed shouted for ICE to "stack us up like cordwood,"mocking Jones who made the statement a few years ago in reference to immigrants.
Jones, who did not take media questions after the meeting, said during the meeting that 287(g) is here to stay.
"There are certainly horror stories that have come out through police agencies about ICE detainees, absolutely. I will not disagree with that at all,” he said. “I made the statement when I first made this application process that it was my commitment that that would not happen in Knox County.
"And I’m standing here telling you that the things you’re talking about are not happening in Knox County," he said as his voice rose. "They may be happening somewhere else, but they’re not happening here! Period! I know that."
KCSO: Fewer foreign-born arrests than in previous years
Cox was bombarded with questions about the number of foreign-born arrests under the 287(g) program. Of the approximately 12,000 county arrests in 2018 only 2.9 percent or approximately 350 have been foreign-born, a lower number than the previous two years, he said.
Hesaid the lower number proved the 287(g) program wasn’t racially biased because if it were, the numbers would reflect it.
According to Jones, in 2016 approximately 4.1 percent and 2017 approximately 3.6percent of all county arrests were foreign-born.
“A common misconception is that 287(g) somehow results in additional arrests by local law enforcement," Cox said. "That is categorically false … 287(g) does not grant any additional authority whatsoever to the local law enforcement operation.
KCSO's ICE application last year estimated the 287(g) program would allow the county to process and turn in up to 1,800 immigrants a year, or as many as 150 people a month.
If the county turned in 1,800 people a year and made approximately 22,000 arrests overall, then 8.1 percent of all arrests would be foreign-born, much higher than the current 2.9 percent.
Misdemeanor charges
Another charge made by protesters was that foreign-born people would be arrested largely on misdemeanor charges, like driving without a license and driving under the influence.
During the meeting, Meghan Conley, a University of Tennessee sociology professor and member of Allies of Knoxville’s Immigrant Neighbors, said 90 percent of all inmates with ICE holds in Knox County have been taken into custody on misdemeanor charges.
Jones said the foreign-born misdemeanor charges numbers are similar to the general population of the jail which he said is "over 70 percent."
“I’m not a statistician, but 70 percent and 90 percent seem like wildly different numbers to me,” Conley said.
According to Conley's data, of the 169 known ICE holds since September 2017, 152 have been arrested for a misdemeanor.
The most serious charge for 65 of the people with ICE holds was driving under the influence. Another 38 people's worst charge dealt with a license-related charge. Seventeen of the 169 were charged with a felony.
Cox said pointing to low-level charges for ICE detaineesis not a fair way to look at it.
“In some instances (there is) prior criminal history … it may have been a low-level arrest currently, but that person may have other, more serious, violent criminal history previously,” he said
More:Knox County 287(g) application to 'combat illegal immigration,' turn in up to 1,800 'aliens' a year
Knox County/ICE background
Theprogramdeputizes local law enforcement officials to act on behalf of and in place of federal immigration authorities in exchange for training and funding.
Once someone has been arrested on federal, state or local charges, ICE will flag the individual for removal and decide to request a detainer, or hold, on the person. The 287(g) program allows local law enforcement to decide who goes into deportation proceedings. A federal immigration judge ultimately decides who will be deported.
ICE places detainers on undocumented immigrants who have been arrestedon local criminal charges and for whom ICE has probable cause to believe should be removed from the United States, according to an ICE spokesperson. The detainers are put in place so ICE can take custody of the individual when he or she is released from local custody.
More:Knox County approved for controversial ICE program
When the parties signed the agreement,Jones said the program would be used to help reduce the county’s jail population and to save the county money by holding undocumented immigrant inmates for less time. However, the county’s application stated the reason for joining ICE was to fight illegal immigration.
Transparency avoidance or threat?
Some, including Conley of Allies of Knoxville’s Immigrant Neighbors, said the offices didn't meet certain mandatesahead of the meeting.
Neither KCSO nor ICE provided an agenda ahead of time, which is a requirement of the committee’s charter. Also, the meeting time and date was to be scheduled at least 30 days ahead of time, but a clerical error led to the meeting being rescheduled three times in the past two weeks.
After the meeting, Cox said the meetings were rescheduled because of "threats of violence" against the steering committee.
When asked about any threats, sheriff's office spokesman, Martha Dooley, said in an emailed statement that the sheriff's office couldn't talk about them "because of safety and security reasons."
Conley said the short notice of the meeting seemed like a deliberate attempt to confuse the community.
“While I don’t think this is people’s main concern about 287(g), I think it certainly is something that speaks to the fact that people are hyper-concerned about how the program will function because many people already feel like they don’t have many channels to be able to discuss their concerns, to have them heard and responded to in a genuine way,” Conley said.
