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Editor's Note: Raúl A. Reyes is a lawyer and contributor to the USA Today newspaper. Follow him on Twitter @RaulAReyes. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.
(CNN) - The Border Patrol will send elite tactical teams to “sanctuary” cities like New York and Chicago to help with immigration arrests. They are deploying a hundred agents, including members of a unit that serves as the Border Patrol SWAT team, to attend the Immigration and Customs Service (ICE), as reported in the news.
The members of this unit carry stun grenades and receive training similar to that of special forces, such as sniper certification. More agents are expected in Atlanta, Boston, Houston, San Francisco and other cities, according to The New York Times .
The escalation of the Trump administration against the sanctuary cities using these types of tactics is alarming and unprecedented in nature and scope. The move rests on inspiring fear and has more capacity to harm than to protect communities. It is a political strategy that turns Border Patrol agents and immigrants into pawns for the benefit of the president.
Any debate about the cities "sanctuary" is complex because of misconceptions about it. Not only is there not a single definition of sanctuary city, which varies by location, but the term is misleading. In general, sanctuary cities are places that limit the participation of local agencies in the application of federal immigration law.
For undocumented immigrants, these cities are no refuge from the law. Sanctuary policies are simply the way some localities tell federal agents "you do your job (apply immigration laws) and we do ours (protect our communities)."
Many police chiefs support sanctuary policies because they help them gain the trust of immigrant communities. This trust is important when the police need people to report crimes or be encouraged to testify as witnesses.
Now Trump is taking revenge against the sanctuary cities, sending the Border Patrol. A spokesman for the US Customs and Border Protection Office he confirmed to The New York Times , the first media to report it, that the agency will deploy officials to work in the cities "in order to consolidate the integrity of the immigration system, protect public safety and strengthen our national security."
But sending Border Patrol officials to work with ICE in the cities undermines our immigration system. Congress has ordered the Border Patrol to protect our borders, while ICE deals with law enforcement inside. This distinction is important, given that border agents are not trained to operate in large urban areas. Placing members of the elite Border Patrol teams in highly populated areas is a recipe for disaster.
Sending border patrol agents to sanctuary cities is also an inappropriate use of resources. When deploying agents inside, there will be fewer of them at the border, where smugglers, traffickers and cartels exercise. (In fact, according to the story told on the website of the US Customs and Border Protection, a somewhat similar effort - earlier - in the 50s was a failure: “Despite the great success in repatriation , many deportees simply turned around and crossed the border again seriously lack of personnel ”).
Instead, agents removed from the border will support ICE agents in their routine arrests, which have recently included a record number of undocumented immigrants with no criminal record. This will sow fear in immigrant communities and result in the militarization of metropolitan neighborhoods.
Immigrant advocates denounced this new Trump government policy. However, they are not the only ones expressing concern about it. The ex-commissioner of the Office of Customs and Border Protection, Gil Kerlikowske, considered the move a "significant error." John Sandweg, the former ICE captain under Obama, said the measure was "dangerous" and "an insult to ICE agents who are sufficiently capable of taking care of threats out there and who have done it and do it."
The moment chosen for this policy is also problematic. It is certainly no coincidence that Trump is sending Border Patrol agents to the cities now that the 2020 election is approaching; Applying hard hand to sanctuary cities is one of their distinctive solutions.
In the same way, the greater presence of the Immigration and Customs Control Service and the US Border Patrol. This occurs when immigrant communities are urged to participate in the 2020 census. This raises legitimate questions as to whether the president is reassigning police officers to promote their political interests.
The president and his allies like to say that sanctuary cities refuse to deliver violent criminals to immigration authorities. In fact, sanctuary cities do deliver immigrants to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service, provided that said organization has a court order. And despite Trump's horrible anecdotes, sanctuary cities are not breeding grounds for crime.
A 2017 analysis of the Center for American Progress found that sanctuary cities had on average crime rates that were 15% lower than non-sanctuary cities. Another study found that two-thirds of the cities that had the most significant increases in murder rates in 2016 were not sanctuary cities.
These findings add to studies that show that the criminal rate of immigrants - including undocumented immigrants - is lower than that of those born in the United States.
Sending Border Patrol agents to sanctuary cities is inefficient, unnecessary, and potentially dangerous. Trump's latest action is nothing more than an empty show of strength for his base.
Translation of Mariana Campos
sanctuary cities