Several Delaware civil rights organizations are calling for the town of Camden and its police department to withdraw from a recently adopted agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which allows local law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration laws.
ICE records show the Camden Police Department signed onto the federal agency’s 287(g) program on April 29. As of May 6, Camden was the only Delaware law enforcement agency to do so.
Neither the town’s mayor nor its police chief immediately responded to Delaware Online/The News Journal’s questions about how the agreement came about or why it was joined now, given the program has been around for decades.
According to ICE records, Camden’s agreement uses the 287(g) “task force model,” which allows local agencies to enforce “limited immigration authority with ICE oversight during their routine police duties.”
It’s not immediately clear how the partnership will work, given the lack of information provided by Camden officials.
This must not stand. To the Governor and the General Assembly–this warrants an emergency response from you.
To all who are concerned about this, please do what Joe Connor in his comment in the Open Thread urged you to do–sign this petition from the Delaware ACLU.
I know our readers will step up. Several already have. It is now up to our public officials.