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A new report by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) question whether the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) is really the alternative to Secure Communities that it promised to be. TRAC found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is still issuing detainers on individuals with no criminal convictions.
TRAC found that in the first two months of FY2016, ICE was not focusing on its own priorities and was still issuing most I-247s on individuals who have no criminal records. Fifty-one percent of I-247 requests were issued on people with no conviction, while 25 percent were for Level 1 offenses (the most serious), 6 percent were for Level 2 offenses, and 18 percent were for Level 3 offenses. Shockingly, the number of people with no criminal convictions getting detainers was actually higher in FY2016 than in FY2014 and FY2015.
Additionally, TRAC found that ICE is rarely using the I-247N voluntary notification document. Four out of every five I-247s issued by ICE during the first two months of FY2016 were the traditional I-247D detainers requesting that the LEA hold the individual. In the months since the new PEP policy went into effect, only between 13 and 20 percent of I-247s issued were I-247Ns requesting the LEA notify ICE when the individual is to be released.
TRAC correctly questions whether or not PEP has resulted in serious changes in the way ICE operates. More monitoring and data analysis is needed, and advocates need to continue to pressure ICE to stick to the rules it created.
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