Photo: File photo; Wikimedia
A member of Trump’s immigration transition team had a list of proposals for the Department of Homeland Security—incuding one to deputize local law enforcement officers so they could enforce immigration laws, according to a USA Today news report.
The list of proposals was being carried by Kris Kobach, the Kansas Secretary of State, and was photographed as he met with President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday, November 20, 2016.
[sc name=”Article Mobile Ad” ]
Kobach has helped draft laws for several states to help crackdown on illegal immigration. Another proposal on the list concerned the pledge Trump made while campaigning for president, and involved ceasing the program that accepts Syrian refugees, and improving the screening of people whose countries of origina have no ties with terrorism.
The proposal, referred to on the list as the “287(g) program,” permits the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to train local law enforcement officers and sheriffs deputies to locate and apprehend undocumented immigrants in their jurisdictions.
The program was created in 1996 by Congress and put to use by President George W. Bush. By 2010, 24 states were involved in the program, although it was phased out by President Obama.
In what could be a reverse of Obama’s policy, Kobach’s proposal suggests that “at least 70 cities and counties” throughout the U.S. could be participating in the program in January.
President-elect Trump had stated that deporting 2-3 million undocumented immigrants—with criminal records—was a top priority.
