By Ron Fonger
mlive.com
GENESEE COUNTY, Mich. — A mid- Michigan police chief says he will rescind a cooperation agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — not because of backlash against it but because of staffing issues he can’t otherwise resolve.
Metro Police Authority Chief Matt Bade told MLive-The Flint Journal of his decision on Wednesday, Oct. 22, just hours after advising his department’s oversight board of his plans.
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Metro was created when Mundy Township and the city of Swartz Creek merged their police departments in 2017.
Bade signed the agreement with ICE, the federal agency responsible for immigration enforcement, in June, becoming just the sixth police department in Michigan with a deal to aid in deportation efforts.
Under the 287(g) program, police officers can interrogate immigrants in their custody and detain them for potential deportation.
Bade has said his agreement with ICE would have enabled five officers within the department to hold individuals until they could be taken into custody by the Department of Homeland Security.
But the chief said Wednesday that those officers haven’t completed the required 40 hours of training to participate and won’t be able to because of other duties.
“In the last couple of weeks ... three of those (five) officers have been reassigned to other duties,” Bade said. My command staff and I decided it’s best for now to pause this.”
Although Bade said the decision to rescind the ICE agreement could be reversed, it won’t be “in the foreseeable future” because of the “operational capacities” of the department.
Bade said his decision wasn’t influenced by demands that the agreement be terminated, calling the pacts between ICE and local police departments “a good program (that could have been) beneficial to our community.”
The Flint Alliance for Immigrant Rights, which has organized opposition to the agreement, said in a statement on Wednesday that it celebrates Bade’s announcement but not the reasoning behind it, saying it “is not aligned with the wider Genesee County community’s demands for transparency, accountability, and ensuring immigrant safety.”
“We must continue to hold the Metro Police Authority, all local enforcement, and elected officials accountable,” the group said in a statement. “Those in power want us to believe it’s hopeless to fight back. Let today’s victory serve as a clear rejection of that belief and as proof that when we organize, we win.”
Mundy Township Supervisor Jennifer Stainton said she was at Wednesday’s meeting when Bade told the police department’s board of his decision.
“The chief reported he had to rescind the agreement because he doesn’t have the staff ...,” said Stainton, who is a member of the police board. “His comment was that they don’t have the staffing personnel to be in the agreement at this time.”
Stainton said she supports whatever decision Bade makes and has mixed feelings about the ICE agreement.
“This wasn’t a board decision,” the supervisor said. “This was a Chief Bade decision.”
Metro’s agreement with ICE is classified as a “task force model,” giving local officers the ability to investigate someone’s immigration status during their routine police duties.
ICE has also signed “jail services model” agreements that allow police to screen people detained in jails for immigration violations, and “warrant service officer” model agreements that authorize state and local police to comply with ICE warrants or requests on immigrants while they are at their agency’s jails.
Nationwide, the number of signed agreements between ICE and local police has ballooned under President Trump, increasing from 135 last December to 1,098 as of Wednesday.
Bade has said he learned of the cooperation program while attending a conference earlier this year and has said he believed it would be worthwhile because of a large transient population here.
In Michigan, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office was the first police agency in the state to enter the ICE cooperation program.
In addition to Metro, the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, Roscommon County Sheriff’s Office, Berrien County Sheriff’s Office, and the city of Taylor also have signed agreements with ICE.
Some Michigan police agencies have specifically turned down requests to sign the local cooperation agreements.
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