Thank you to Jim Jiovanazzo and all those who participated in the vigil outside the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, as PEACE representatives Jill Hanson, Esq. and Sandra Matute negotiated with representatives of the Sheriff’s Office. The following is a PEACE press release that explains the issues, teh discussion with the Sheriff’s Office, and the current status of the issues involved.
Sheriff Bradshaw Agrees to Accept Consular IDs, Says Give Him 30 Days to Consider No Longer Honoring ICE Detainer Requests
West Palm Beach – About 20 PEACE clergy and leaders gathered outside Sheriff’s Headquarters to conduct a prayer vigil Tuesday afternoon as two representatives went inside to meet with Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and Deputy Chief Michael Gauger. The topic? Getting the Sheriff’s Office to accept consular IDs and foreign passports as a valid form of identification, and getting the Sheriff’s Office to join numerous other sheriffs’ departments around the country who have stopped their involvement with ICE detainer requests.
The meeting was a follow-up to the group’s big annual meeting, attended this year by more than 2,600 people, held on March 31st. PEACE was asking the Sheriff’s Office to allow those stopped for driving without a license to present a consular ID or a passport as a form of proper identification (which would in turn prevent them from being taken to jail), and to follow the lead of a growing number of law enforcement agencies throughout our country, and stop complying with voluntary ICE detainer requests. Sheriff Bradshaw was unable to attend, but his representative at the meeting, Deputy Chief Gauger, denied each of the requests.
Not only would such changes greatly improve the quality of life for undocumented immigrants, , but it would also positively impact public safety. The two practices of jailingpeople for driving without a license, and permitting ICE to detain people in jail without probable cause (resulting in the deportation of many low-level offenders), has seriously weakened the trust between law enforcement and the immigrant community As a result, when undocumented immigrants are either the victims of crimes or witnesses to crimes, they typically do not come forward – making crimes harder to solve and to go unchecked.
But the argument the group relied upon in Tuesday afternoon’s meeting with Bradshaw had to do with money. By spending taxpayer dollars on jailing people for driving without a license the Sheriff’s Office is wasting valuable resources. Accepting consular IDs and passports would give deputies a valid way to identify people and to avoid the costly step of jailing them. Hundreds of law enforcement agencies throughout the country are doing just this, PEACE argued, and our PBSO should follow suit.
With regard to the ICE detainer requests, PEACE presented the Sheriff with two recent court decisions (Miranda-Olivares v. Clackamas County, and Galarza v. Szalczyk) which held that not only is compliance with ICE detainers completely voluntary, but that sheriff’s offices (not ICE) are liable for holding people without probable cause. ICE detainer requests are not warrants nor are they accompanied by a judicial finding of probable cause. As a result, the number of localities throughout the country which have chosen to stop complying with ICE detainer requests has risen to over 100.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Sheriff agreed to instruct deputies to begin accepting as proof of identity and proof of local residence, the consular ID that has a local address. We continue to explore ways to permit acceptance of passports from foreign countries as valid ID, provided there is some other proof of local residence.Finally, given the new information presented by PEACE, the Sheriff will review the issue of compliance ICE detainer requests, within the next 30 days,
“We’re greatly encouraged,” said Fr. Nestor Rodriguez, pastor of St. Ann Catholic Church and PEACE Member. “Acceptance of the consular ID means that immigrants no longer need to fear being jailed for driving without a license – and this will make a huge difference in their lives. At the same time, it will save the Sheriff’s Office money. We remain hopeful that the Sheriff will do the right thing on the ICE detainer requests as well.