Local police and sheriff deputies cannot hold people at the request of federal agents for investigation of civil immigration violations, a Florida coalition of civil rights, legal, labor and grassroots organizations said Monday. 
Their argument: Such “detainers” of people by local authorities on behalf of federal officials violate the U.S. Constitution.
“The detentions threaten community safety and raise serious constitutional problems that could open enforcing agencies up to significant liability,” the groups, including the ACLU of Florida, Florida Immigrant Coalition and chapters of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said.
To prove their point, the organizations on Monday sent letters to 62 sheriff offices in Florida calling for an end to this practice. “ICE detainers violate the basic principle that the government cannot put someone in jail without due process,” Shalini Goel Agarwal, an attorney with ACLU of Florida, said in a statement.
The groups are citing federal court cases as evidence to support their position. Earlier this year, a federal court case in Oregon prompted local law enforcement agencies in Northern California to change their “hold” policies.
Under a federal “hold” or “detainer” request, local law enforcement would keep a person in local jail for two days after the original release date, the groups said.
Federal immigration agents would then consider whether the person should be taken into custody and face deportation. These “holds” are occurring even when a person has been cleared of potential criminal charges.
“Detainers have resulted in the illegal imprisonment of countless individuals, including U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents and Latinos in particular, without any charges pending, sometimes for days or weeks,” the groups said.
“Detaining and deporting hardworking Floridians and separating families does not benefit anyone and does not protect our communities,” Maria Rodriguez, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, said in a statement.
Already, two states and more than 150 local governments, including San Francisco and Los Angeles, have ended or limited this type of cooperation with ICE. In Florida, authorities in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties have terminated their participation in the “detainer” program.
Recently, Rodriguez added, sheriff deputies in Collier County and authorities with Florida’s chief financial officer have turned over “dozens” of fruit workers to ICE agents.
Founded in 1998, the Florida Immigrant Coalition works on human rights and social policy issues. More than 50 organizations are members of FLIC.