With immigration raids occurring across the U.S. during the first month of the Donald Trump administration, Mid-Missouri law enforcement agencies will decide if and when to collaborate with federal authorities.
City leaders still have not discussed what they would do if asked to cooperate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Mayor Barbara Buffaloe said. However, existing law enforcement policies suggest the current stance is cooperative.
A City of Columbia rule known as Policy 428 states that Columbia Police officers only check immigration status once a person has been formally arrested, and they do not make any arrests based on immigration status alone.
The immigration status of an arrestee is checked through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Law Enforcement Support Center.
In an email to city council, Police Chief Jill Schlude said the difference between a civil and criminal immigration violation determines CPD’s next course of action.
Policy 428 states that officers do not detain someone for a civil violation, such as overstaying a visa after being lawfully admitted. However, officers can detain someone for a criminal immigration violation, such as unlawful entry to the U.S.
Bill Niffen, a Kansas City immigration attorney, said the language in Policy 428 allows a lot of officer discretion. For example, the policy states officers are "encouraged” to forgo detentions if there are limited resources at the time. However, it doesn’t require them to.
“Are they going to uniformly and evenly exercise the ’may’ when they do?” he said. “[Are they] looking at the same criteria and making sure that everybody gets treated the exact same way?”
Boone County Sheriff's Department officers will evaluate cooperating with ICE on a case-by-case basis, Boone County Sheriff's Office Captain Brian Leer said.
"We've earned a great reputation here locally just because we treat people with respect," Leer said. "That's what we're planning on doing really, is just continue to do what we do."
In his first month in office, President Trump began acting on his vow to crack down on unauthorized immigration in the U.S. Concerns of Trump campaign promises materializing across the country persist — including among Columbia residents.
Mark Haim, of advocacy group Mid-Missouri Peaceworks, asked city officials not to comply with federal immigration agents during a Jan. 21 Columbia City Council meeting. He said mass deportations would be both a tragedy for individuals and their families and an economic disaster.
Mid-Missouri Peaceworks is also circulating a petition calling on Boone County and Columbia officials to oppose mass deportations in the area.
"The City of Columbia should not, in my opinion and in the opinion of hundreds of Peaceworks members, be complicit in this matter," Haim said.
Legally, local law enforcement agencies are not mandated to be involved in immigration enforcement, Javad Khazaeli, a St. Louis-based lawyer with expertise in immigration and civil rights, said. But nothing prevents law enforcement officers from being involved either, under federal and state rules.
Khazaeli said it's up to local government officials and law enforcement to decide whether to comply in immigration-related arrests.
Although Haim urged the council to pass a sanctuary city ordinance protecting immigrants, this may not be in Columbia's best interest, Khazaeli said.
When a city passes an ordinance stating that local law enforcement agencies will not cooperate with federal immigration officers, it makes the area an easy "target" for federal authorities, he said.
City of Columbia plans
Buffaloe said the Columbia City Council hasn't discussed immigration crackdowns, nor has it weighed implementing a sanctuary city ordinance.
She also said there has been no discussion among city officials on how the council would direct the Columbia Police Department to respond to national immigration enforcement authorities. "My focus is obviously on Columbia and making sure that my officers are working to keep Columbia safe and weighing in on our local issues, rather than things that are happening at a national level that are then trickling down," she said. "I'd rather prioritize our resources on meeting the needs of people in Columbia."
At the Columbia City Council meeting Feb. 3, First Ward councilperson Valerie Carroll pledged her support for Columbia's immigrant population.
"I really want to acknowledge that we are a very diverse town, we're a university town—people come here from all different kinds of places and all different kinds of immigration statuses, and our immigration population is extraordinarily important to our community," she said. "We want to do everything we can to make people feel safe in our city."
Carroll added that she hopes to foster more discussion on "ways to make people feel safe in Columbia."
After the meeting, Carroll said any local policy changes would require consulting with the city’s legal department to avoid violating current laws. She also said she is concerned about what policies may come down from the state level this legislative session.
“It's going to be really, really important to bring this to the state officials to make sure that they're not going to require us to do something that our local population doesn't want,” Carroll said.
Columbia Police Department officials declined repeated requests for an interview. A statement e-mailed to KBIA said, “Officers receive training on all department policies, including Policy 428.”
Neither Haim nor CPD officials are aware of any ICE raids or deportations that have taken place in Columbia since President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Boone County plans
At the county level, local law enforcement is also not required to comply with immigration enforcement.
At the time of publication, the Boone County Sheriff's department had not received any communication from the federal government or ICE regarding immigration enforcement in Boone County, Leer said. The department is statutorily mandated to enforce state law, and immigration doesn't fall within its primary focus.
If ICE came to Boone County, the sheriff's department would treat its officers just like any other law enforcement agency or mutual aid request, Leer said. He added that his team would evaluate any requests made of them by ICE and decide if and how the department would assist. Essentially, decisions regarding immigration are made on a case by case basis.
Leer said that last year, there were about a dozen of an undocumented immigrants being arrested and brought to the Boone County jail. He cited this as evidence that Boone County does not frequently see crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.
"It's not like it's an issue that plaguing our community," he said.
Additionally, Leer said there are currently nine people in the county jail that have an ICE detainer on them. These individuals were not brought to the jail because of their immigration status, but rather because of "serious felonies."
There are no detainees being held in the jail solely because of immigration status, according to Leer.
If the sheriff's department makes an arrest and discovers that the individual in custody has immigrated to the country illegally, jail staff will notify the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Leer said. Beyond that point, it is up to Homeland Security to decide whether to take action.
ICE has collaborated with agencies in the area before. In 2011, Boone County was one of 20 jurisdictions in Missouri that sent biometric information of arrestees to ICE. This agreement was meant to help the agency to identify and remove both lawfully and unlawfully present immigrants convicted of a crime.
