Because of the hard work you all put into turning out 2,600 people this past March, undocumented immigrants in Palm Beach County need no longer live in fear of 2 things:

1) Being arrested for driving without a license, if they can present a consular ID. The Sheriff’s Office will accept the consular ID as valid identification. The driver without the license  will receive a citation, but will not be taken to jail.

2) Being detained / deported by ICE simply because they were driving without a license, in the absence of additional judicial authority.

In short – the meaning this has to a LOT of people’s lives in Palm Beach County is huge.  And it is all because of YOU, PEACE, and some very hard work this past Spring.

See two articles: one on the WPTV website, and one from the Palm Beach Post

All media coverage will be posted on the PEACE Facebook page.

The Press Release from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is below.

July 22, 2014

For Immediate Release                                                                                                                                MA14-96

Contact:       Media Relations 688-3080

MEDIA ADVISORY

Effective immediately, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office will no longer detain individuals with questionable immigration status based only on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) detainers absent additional judicial authority.  An I.C.E. detainer is a request for a local jail to hold individuals up to 48 hours after the local charges have been resolved; it’s an agency request only.

Historically, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) detainers were viewed as “Mandatory”, requiring jails to honor them. However, recent directives by I.C.E. describe detainers as discretionary and there have been recent Federal Court decisions articulating the same.  Therefore, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office will no longer honor the detainers absent judicial authority. PBSO will require Orders of Deportation or Warrants signed by a federal judge/magistrate, or other court related orders, to hold individuals beyond the time they would otherwise be released.

This decision comes after a long, thoughtful, and deliberate process that included meetings with the community activists group P.E.A.C.E and discussions with various legal counsels and I.C.E. Officials.

This decision in no way will affect the Sheriff’s Office commitment to securing our borders from the influx of illegal immigrants attempting to enter the U.S. illegally or the Human Trafficking associated with it.

Sheriff Bradshaw Agrees to Accept Consular IDs, Says Give Him 30 Days to Consider No Longer Honoring ICE Detainer Requests

West Palm Beach – About 20 PEACE clergy and leaders gathered outside Sheriff’s Headquarters to conduct a prayer vigil Tuesday afternoon as two representatives went inside to meet with Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and Deputy Chief Michael Gauger. The topic? Getting the Sheriff’s Office to accept consular IDs and foreign passports as a valid form of identification, and getting the Sheriff’s Office to join numerous other sheriffs’ departments around the country who have stopped their involvement with ICE detainer requests.

The meeting was a follow-up to the group’s big annual meeting, attended this year by more than 2,600 people, held on March 31st. PEACE was asking the Sheriff’s Office to allow those stopped for driving without a license to present a consular ID or a passport as a form of proper identification (which would in turn prevent them from being taken to jail), and to follow the lead of a growing number of law enforcement agencies throughout our country, and stop complying with voluntary ICE detainer requests. Sheriff Bradshaw was unable to attend, but his representative at the meeting, Deputy Chief Gauger, denied each of the requests.

Not only would such changes greatly improve the quality of life for undocumented immigrants, , but it would also positively impact public safety. The two practices of jailingpeople for driving without a license, and permitting ICE to detain people in jail without probable cause (resulting in the deportation of many low-level offenders), has seriously weakened the trust between law enforcement and the immigrant community As a result, when undocumented immigrants are either the victims of crimes or witnesses to crimes, they typically do not come forward – making crimes harder to solve and to go unchecked.

But the argument the group relied upon in Tuesday afternoon’s meeting with Bradshaw had to do with money. By spending taxpayer dollars on jailing people for driving without a license the Sheriff’s Office is wasting valuable resources. Accepting consular IDs and passports would give deputies a valid way to identify people and to avoid the costly step of jailing them. Hundreds of law enforcement agencies throughout the country are doing just this, PEACE argued, and our PBSO should follow suit.

With regard to the ICE detainer requests, PEACE presented the Sheriff with two recent court decisions (Miranda-Olivares v. Clackamas County, and Galarza v. Szalczyk) which held that not only is compliance with ICE detainers completely voluntary, but that sheriff’s offices (not ICE) are liable for holding people without probable cause. ICE detainer requests are not warrants nor are they accompanied by a judicial finding of probable cause. As a result, the number of localities throughout the country which have chosen to stop complying with ICE detainer requests has risen to over 100.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the Sheriff agreed to instruct deputies to begin accepting as proof of identity and proof of local residence, the consular ID that has a local address. We continue to explore ways to permit acceptance of passports from foreign countries as valid ID, provided there is some other proof of local residence.Finally, given the new information presented by PEACE, the Sheriff will review the issue of compliance ICE detainer requests, within the next 30 days,

“We’re greatly encouraged,” said Fr. Nestor Rodriguez, pastor of St. Ann Catholic Church and PEACE Member. “Acceptance of the consular ID means that immigrants no longer need to fear being jailed for driving without a license – and this will make a huge difference in their lives. At the same time, it will save the Sheriff’s Office money. We remain hopeful that the Sheriff will do the right thing on the ICE detainer requests as well.

Here is a PDF of an advance copy of the AGENDA.

• Criminal Justice issue – there is good news to report!  While the Sheriff is indeed unable to come, he is sending his second-in command, Deputy Chief Mike Gauger.  Deputy Chief Gauger will speak on behalf of the Sheriff, and since he was the only person we were willing to accept in the Sheriff’s place, we are glad he is coming.  We’ve had one meeting with him this past week, and have another one scheduled for Monday.  It is going to be a tough case to get Deputy Chief Gauger to agree to our questions!  So it is very important, as always, that we get as many people there that night as possible.

• Jobs / Unemployment in the Glades – We have 5 of 7 County Commissioners coming (Santamaria, Burdick, Vana, Taylor, and Valeche).  We plan on asking them to instruct their staff (Bob Weisman and others in County Administration) to conduct research into the following for County contracts awarded in the last 5 years – 1) the # of Glades businesses that received a contract or sub-contract; 2) the # of Glades residents that were actually hired to work on those contracts; and 3) the number of Glades business that were used in purchasing for those contracts.  Then we are asking them to instruct their staff to bring that research back to the County Commission within 3 months, with recommendations on how to rectify weaknesses – including the development of a First Source Ordinance?