Immigration Bureau sets up hotline for detained immigrants

Immigration Bureau sets up hotline for detained immigrants (Alberta Times) The Immigration Bureau recently set up a hotline to ensure that immigrants detained by local police fully understand their rights...

Immigration Bureau sets up a hotline for detained immigrants (Alberta Times) Immigration Bureau recently set up a hotline to ensure that immigrants detained by local police fully understand their rights. "Reuters" reported that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently announced that it will provide a toll-free helpline number to immigrants detained by state or local law enforcement agencies if they believe they are U.S. citizens or victims of crime. ?#28909; Online service is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and provides translation services in several languages. The translation service is from 7 am to 12 midnight every day. ICE’s 287(g) program, which partners with state and local law enforcement agencies, allows participating agencies to enforce immigration laws, but this approach has been controversial. Some opponents of the 287(g) program believe that 287(g) was originally mainly used to track down foreign criminals, but it has been promoted as a major tool for immigration officials to deport illegal immigrants. The Justice Department said earlier this month that the hard-line Arpaio, Arizona, police chief and his deputies violated U.S. civil rights laws by conducting searches of Latino people based on their appearance and making illegal arrests in an effort to crack down on illegal immigration. In addition, Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano also ended a 287(g) agreement with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona. In the past, police officers were able to filter the immigration status of prisoners under this agreement. In addition to the phone hotline, ICE's plan also includes issuing a Form I-247 to all detainees, with translations in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese and Vietnamese, informing them that ICE will detain them for 48 hours. If they are not incarcerated within 48 hours, they should contact the police or agency holding them and ask the state or local government to release them. The new toll-free hotline is (855) 448-6903, which detainees can call if they think they may be a U.S. citizen or a victim of a crime.