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The 287(g) program allows local ICE to cross-train and deputize law enforcement officers to question, arrest and jail people suspected of immigration violations.聽The program is already in place in about 60 jurisdictions in 18 states, and ICE is currently processing applications for 24 more.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has objected and 聽earlier this month to the Department of Homeland Security鈥檚 Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties detailing issues in 14 sheriff鈥檚 offices that have applied to join the 287(g) program. The ACLU also is asking DHS to deny the applications and terminate the program.

Of the 14 troubled jurisdictions the ACLU examines in the letter, none is as egregious as Alamance County, North Carolina and its Sheriff Terry Johnson, pictured above.

In 2012, the Department of Justice against Johnson, alleging that the sheriff鈥檚 department 鈥渞outinely discriminates against and targets Latinos.鈥� Alamance County was a member of the 287(g) program until September 2012, when Justice Department investigators publicly accused Johnson and his deputies of racially profiling Latino drivers. ICE its agreement with the county.

Allegations levied at the sheriff鈥檚 department Johnson鈥檚 office include engaging 鈥渋n substandard reporting and monitoring practices that mask its discriminatory conduct,鈥� according to investigators. Additional findings include allegations of deputies targeting Latino drivers (investigators found the department was between four and 10 times more likely to stop Latino drivers on major county roadways); in a 2007 staff meeting, Sheriff Johnson yelling 鈥渂ring me some Mexicans鈥� while banging his fists on a table; in a 2008 staff meeting, Johnson directed supervisors to tell their subordinates, 鈥淚f you stop a Mexican, don鈥檛 write a citation, arrest him.鈥澛�

A U.S. District Court judge in 2015, but acknowledged, 鈥淭he language, epithets and slurs used by some [sheriff鈥檚 department] officers, particularly in the ACDC [detention center], are abhorrent and, if not ended already, should cease immediately.鈥�

The allegations against Johnson and the Alamance County Sheriff鈥檚 Office echo those of another prominent 287(g) participant in the past, ex-Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who voters ousted in 2016 and was subsequently convicted of contempt of court for disobeying a judge鈥檚 orders to stop racially profiling Latinos and detaining them solely on suspicion of their immigration status.

Arpaio once in the 287(g) program; ICE terminated Arpaio鈥檚 287(g) agreement in 2009 after the DOJ was investigating him for civil rights abuses, and in 2011.

鈥淸The 287(g) program] gave [Arpaio] the authority to perpetuate these massive raids in communities of color,鈥� says Arizona investigative journalist Terry Greene Sterling, author of . ICE鈥檚 termination of the 287(g) agreement with Arpaio didn鈥檛 slow him down, either. 鈥淗e was found to have racially profiled Latino drivers and passengers in Maricopa County, and some of that happened after the 287(g) was ended,鈥� she says.

President Trump controversially in August, after his conviction for defying the judge鈥檚 order to halt racial profiling in his department.

Besides Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson, the currently applying to participate in the 287(g) program, in counties in Florida, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

鈥淭he costs of enmeshing local law enforcement agencies in the business of federal civil immigration enforcement far outweigh the benefits,鈥� Chris Rickerd, policy counsel for the ACLU, wrote in his letter urging a full stop to the program. 鈥淲hen the public isn鈥檛 sure whether the police are there to protect or deport them, crimes don鈥檛 get reported and domestic violence survivors stay silent rather than calling 911.鈥�

(Image: Alamance County, North Carolina Sheriff Terry Johnson;聽Credit:聽Mark Wilson/Getty Images)