NCJ Number
250224
Date Published
May 2016
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This memorandum from the U.S. Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) reports on the OIG's response to OJP's concern that, based on information it has received, several jurisdictions receiving OJP and Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) grants may be in violation of Federal law 8 U.S.C. section 1373.
Abstract
According to the legislative history contained in the House of Representatives Report, Section 1373 is intended "to give State and local officials the authority to communicate with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) regarding the presence, whereabouts, and activities of illegal aliens. This section is designed to prevent any State or local law, ordinance, executive order, policy, constitutional provision, or decision of any Federal or State court that prohibits or in any way restricts any communication between State and local officials and the INS." In determining whether or not Section 1373 may be violated under laws or ordinances of jurisdictions receiving OJP and OVW grants, the OIG selected a sample of 10 grantees from among the total of 142 current grantees to examine whether any of them have laws or ordinances that violate Section 1373. In the selected sample of State and local jurisdictions, each of the 10 jurisdictions had laws or policies directly related to how those jurisdictions could respond to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers. Each limited in some way the authority of the jurisdiction to take action regarding ICE detainers. This memorandum outlines OIG's recommendations to OJP and OVW regarding ways to facilitate grantees' compliance with Section 1373, including making them aware of penalties that may result from failure to comply with this Federal law. 2 tables