Immigrants and the Garland Police Department
Lets start with a little background on policing in Immigrant communities in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security(DHS) has multiple programs that they use to identify undocumented immigrant inside the United States. 287g is the program most people have some awareness of.
Participation in 287g requires a written agreement between state or local law enforcement and DHS. This program trains and essentially deputizes state or local law enforcement to perform some of the duties of ICE officers. Since there is an agreement between the Federal government and the local officials (by memoranda of agreement), participation isn’t really a secret. As of December 2024, ICE had 135 such agreements around the country. We’ll get into policies you can expect in Garland Texas in this blog.
Other programs DHS uses in partnership with state and local authorities are the Criminal Apprehension Program (CAP) and Secure Communities. As the name suggests, these are programs focused on immigrants that are under arrest already. CAP is a process by which ICE can access inmates to interview them in order to probe for Immigration status. Secure Communities is initiated locally by authorities submitting fingerprints to DHS upon arrest.
So where does the Garland Police Department policy fall in these DHS programs? I initiated a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with Garland PD to find out their level of participation.
The good news is that it is the policy of GPD not to ask about the immigration status of anyone NOT in custody. One exception is if status is relevant to an investigation or to provide an immigrant witness or victim the information they need to seek a Visa, specifically T and U visas are identified in the policy. This does not mean that VAWA isn’t also available. This is policy is also state law in Texas (Tex.Code of Crim. Pro. art. 2A.059). Although it isn’t a stated policy of GPD, another exception under state law does allow an inquiry into status if there is probable cause that the victim or witness engaged in a separate criminal offense.
287g is not mentioned anywhere in the GPD policy manual so presumably there is no memoranda of agreement with DHS and therefore not a part of GPD procedure. However it is clear that immigration detainers must be honored given that it is state law under Tex.Code of Crim. Pro. Art. 2A.060 and also part of the GPD policy manual.
So does the GPD reach out to DHS/ICE when they book an arrestee? According to the GPD manual, the answer is generally no. However there is a separate “jail operation procedure” that provides further information on this question. That will be the subject of my next FOIA request with the city of Garland Texas so stay tuned!
Disclaimer: Information provided in these blogs is not meant to be legal advice and does not create an attorney client relationship.
