Feds End Enforcement Program in Arizona Following Supreme Court Ruling

Administration officials say the program will be lifted in any state that implements a law similar to Arizona's SB 1070.

By Seth Freed Wessler Jun 25, 2012

Just hours after the Supreme Court issued its decision on SB 1070, federal officials said they would immediately rescind a controversial federal-state partnership that uses local cops in Arizona to detain immigrants. A Department of Homeland Security official speaking on the condition of anonymity told Colorlines.com that the 287g program would be terminated in all Arizona counties. The official said the program was not useful in states that have adopted immigration enforcement laws like SB1070. The official also said that the state would not respond to immigration reports from Arizona cops unless the individual fits the federal immigration priorities that the Obama administration has long articulated (ie., people convicted of major crimes, those who have been previously deported and people who recently crossed the border). Advocates have long charged that the 287g program encourages profiling and that the administration deports far more people than accounted for under the priorities it insists it follows.