Checkpoint Monitoring: Challenging Racial Profiling

Over the past week the Southern Coalition for Social Justice has been ramping up its efforts to train checkpoint monitors, with public training sessions in Guilford Co, Alamance Co, and Durham, NC . Hundreds of community members, students, and immigrant’s rights allies have been trained in how to respond to police license checkpoints, in response to the growing number of checkpoints which lead to the deportation of thousands of undocumented immigrants which have devastated immigrant communities in the past few years.
Jillian Johnson and Elena Everett, from the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, led the trainings and explained the implications of ICE ACCESS, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security programs including 287(g), “Secure Communities,” and the Criminal Alien Program (CAP). The trainings also explained the infrastructure of the Checkpoint Monitoring program, as well as an interactive Checkpoint Monitoring training and a Know-Your-Rights briefing.
Checkpoint monitoring has been an important response to the growth of license checkpoints due to 287g agreements. Section 287g of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the most notorious ICE ACCESS program, allows agreements between ICE and the state and local law enforcement agencies which enable local police officers to enforce national immigration law. Eight jurisdictions in North Carolina have 287g agreements with ICE, including Alamance, Cabarrus, Cumberland, Gaston, Henderson, Mecklenburg, and Wake Counties and Durham Police Department. ICE claims that 287g is intended to capture and deport “dangerous felons,” while in fact it is used to criminalize undocumented workers and deport thousands of workers for traffic offenses such as DWI or driving without a license.
THE EFFECTS OF ICE ACCESS
Southern Coalition for Social Justice’s Checkpoint Monitoring Training program allows communities to have an active role in checking ICE ACCESS programs, which is crucial because:
All ICE ACCESS Programs, whether it’s the so-called “Secure Communities” or 287g, enable and encourage racial profiling by local law enforcement. In many jurisdictions we have seen dramatic rises in arrests of Latino-appearing individuals. Police set up regular checkpoints in Latino neighborhoods and near churches, stores and other locations where Latino people frequent.
ICE ACCESS Programs create a climate of fear in immigrant communities. Fear of deportation encourages immigrants to avoid contact with the police, even when they are the victims of horrendous crimes. This allows for immigrants to become targets of criminals.
ICE ACCESS Programs operate without oversight or accountability. 287g officers are not adequately supervised by ICE, allowing sheriffs to implement their own agendas, which can often be symptoms of racial discrimination. Once an undocumented immigrant is arrested, no matter how false or trumped up the charges are, they can still be deported after the charges are dropped. This allows police to use any excuse to arrest suspected undocumented immigrants. There is no requirement by the state to provide an attorney in the immigration courts if a detainee can not afford one, thus many people are denied appropriate counsel.
ICE ACCESS programs cost taxpayers millions, while budgets for education and human services are being cut to the bone. The average cost of one county’s agreement is $17 million per year, paid by the federal government.
WHY CHECKPOINT MONITORING?
Checkpoint monitoring is an effective strategy to provide citizen oversight of police activity and prevent illegal profiling by police. Collecting data at these checkpoints can allow advocacy organizations to show whether ICE ACCESS programs enable racial profiling.
Checkpoint monitoring allows community members to being involved in police oversight and the immigrant’s rights movement, while also causing law enforcement agencies and officers to moderate their behavior by knowing they are being watched and recorded.
If your community or organization is interested in co-hosting a Checkpoint Monitoring Training, contact Elena Everett at Elena@southerncoalition.org
For More information check out
Migrant Solidarity Project
NC ACLU