Editorial: Reality check for Trump’s deportation plan is up to us

Follow @csteditorials

Let people know where they stand.

As a pragmatic and economic matter, as well as a moral one, every Illinois town and county would be wise to decide and let residents know just how far their local cops will go to carry out President Donald Trump’s plan to more aggressively deport unauthorized immigrants.

Will a town order the police to question stopped motorists about their legal status? What about undocumented immigrants who report crimes or come forward as witnesses? Are they at risk of triggering their own deportations?

If elected officials across the state fairly weigh all considerations, we would hope they come to the reasonable conclusion that there is a limit to how aggressively they should respond to Trump’s order. Federal authorities still will conduct raids and detain people, no doubt, but local officials will have a great deal to say in the matter, as we have seen in Cook County. They can reinforce a degree of normalcy in immigrant communities that began to panic the day Trump was elected.

At the national level, Trump’s decision to ramp up deportations of undocumented immigrants, even those who haven’t committed serious crimes, begs for a continued push for a comprehensive approach to immigration reform.

The advocacy group Partnership for a New American Economy, led by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is behind a renewed effort for reform and has brought on board congressional Republicans and Democrats, Politico reported. The group will hold 100 events across the U.S. and sponsor an ad campaign that counters Trump’s anti-immigrant crusade.

Trump eventually will see — or will be told by his Republican allies — that in relying on heavy-handed deportation policies to appease a core group of voters, many U.S. industries could be brought to their knees.

Agriculture is one sector that could suffer greatly. According to the American Farm Bureau, 50 to 70 percent of farm laborers are undocumented immigrants. Migrants in the past have declined to work in states that adopted tough immigration policies. That left fruits and vegetables worth hundreds of millions rotting in farm fields. Unsurprisingly, some congressional Republicans from states that depend on agriculture are joining Bloomberg’s group.

Courts also could weigh in. Last year in a class-action case, a federal judge in Illinois threw out detainers — a request to hold somebody — issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Chicago field office because the detainers were issued without a warrant. It makes sense then that some counties, such as Cook and DuPage, require warrants to detain an unauthorized immigrant for ICE beyond someone’s release date from jail. Cook County goes further. Without a warrant from ICE, it does not communicate at all with federal immigration authorities when an undocumented immigrant is in custody.

In Chicago, immigration raids that took place this month, along with rumors of federal authorities arresting undocumented immigrants on CTA platforms and in Hispanic neighborhoods, quickly had a chilling effect on Latino businesses.

The announcement Tuesday of increased enforcement will make life much tougher for undocumented immigrants, some of whom fear going out to eat, to work or sending their kids to school. Going to class is secondary to keeping a family together.

The memorandums signed by Secretary John Kelly of the Department of Homeland Security are sweeping. They prioritize criminals and every undocumented immigrant who “in the judgment of an immigration officer otherwise pose a risk to the public safety or national security.”

What does that mean? It means immigration agents can deport unauthorized immigrants almost on a whim.

There was some good news: Some 750,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children and received a reprieve from deportation under former President Barack Obama will not be targeted.

Nearly all other aspects of the memos were disturbing. The Trump administration wants to enhance participation in a program in which state and local law enforcement agencies enter into an agreement with the federal government to make cops de facto immigration agents.

Thirty-two law enforcement agencies in 16 states currently are in the program, known as 287(g). Illinois has none — and that’s good. Cops have real crimes to solve, and they sometimes need help from people who are unauthorized immigrants.

Chicago has a Welcoming City ordinance, which makes clear when cops will cooperate with federal immigration authorities. It says Chicago police need a court order from ICE before they will detain an unauthorized immigrant, unless that person has an outstanding criminal warrant, is a defendant in a criminal case, has been convicted of a felony or is a gang member. A key intent of the ordinance is to give undocumented immigrants no reason to be afraid when the police need help on a case.

Trump’s order only sets back progress at the local levels. It invites racial profiling by cops. It tells undocumented immigrants to retreat into the shadows. It offends American ideals.

Send letters to: letters@suntimes.com

Tweets by @csteditorials