DA McCann Supports DACA as Effective Tool for Public Safety & Community Policing

For Immediate Release

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Contact: Miriam Krinsky at krinskym@krinsky.la or (818) 416-5218

Law Enforcement Leaders and Prosecutors Defend DACA as Critical Tool for Public Safety, Effective Community Policing Across Country

63 Top Law Enforcement Officials Argue DACA Program Increases Cooperation with Police

and Improves the Safety of Local Populations

Over 60 prominent national law enforcement leaders, including current sitting Police Chiefs, Sheriffs, District Attorneys, State’s Attorneys, and Prosecuting Attorneys from 28 jurisdictions representing over 25 million people around the country are defending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, highlighting the essential benefits it provides to public safety by encouraging cooperation between immigrants and law enforcement, while warning of the damage to public trust rescinding the program would bring.

This group of prominent prosecutors and law enforcement leaders filed a friend-of-the-court (amicus) brief supporting a federal district court injunction to preserve DACA after the Trump Administration began unwinding the program in September 2017. The Department of Justice is challenging that nationwide injunction, which went into effect on January 9, 2018, and has appealed that order to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The case occupies an influential spot in the larger national debate on immigration policy, with the lives of 800,000 individuals brought to the country as children hanging in the balance.

“DACA protects individuals who have lived, worked, and studied as continuous residents of the United States for over a decade,” said Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Executive Director of Fair and Just Prosecution and a signatory on the brief. “These individuals are active members of our workforce and our social circles, and prosecutors and law enforcement leaders understand their importance to the rich and diverse fabric of our community. Beyond its cruel significance for those the program directly protects, an end to DACA would threaten a serious loss of public trust and cooperation between immigrant populations and law enforcement. These developments could set off a dangerous chain reaction that would jeopardize public safety.”

Twenty eight current prosecutors and law enforcement leaders from diverse jurisdictions across the country were among the 63 signators on the brief, including District Attorneys Diana Becton (Contra Costa County, California), Mark Dupree (Wyandotte County (Kansas City), Kansas), Sim Gill (Salt Lake County, Utah), Eric Gonzalez (Kings County (Brooklyn), New York), Mark Gonzalez (Nueces County (Corpus Christi), Texas), Larry Krasner (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Beth McCann (2nd Judicial Circuit (Denver), Colorado), Raúl

Torrez (Bernalillo County (Albuquerque), New Mexico) and Cyrus Vance (New York County (Manhattan), New York), State Attorney Aramis Ayala (Ninth Judicial Circuit (Orlando) Florida), State’s Attorneys Sarah George (Chittenden County (Burlington), Vermont) and Marilyn Mosby (Baltimore City, Maryland), Prosecuting Attorneys Dan Satterberg (King County (Seattle), Washington) and Carol Siemon (Ingham County (Lansing), Michigan), Police Chiefs Art Acevedo (Houston, Texas Police Department), Charles Beck (Los Angeles, California Police Department) Kenneth Ferguson (Framingham, Massachusetts Police Department), Ronald Haddad (Dearborn, Michigan Police Department) Chris Magnus (Tucson, Arizona Police Department), Abdul Pridgen (Seaside, California Police Department), Celestino Rivera (Lorain, Ohio Police Department), Michael Tupper (Marshalltown, Iowa Police Department), Sheriffs Jerry L. Clayton (Washtenaw County, Michigan Sheriff’s Office), Mark Curran (Lake County, Illinois Sheriff’s Office), Tony Estrada (Santa Cruz County, Arizona Sheriff’s Office), Bill McCarthy (Polk County, Iowa Sheriff’s Office), Joe Pelle (Boulder County, Colorado Sheriff’s Office), Richard Wiles (El Paso County, Texas Sheriff’s Office), and Commissioner Charles Ramsey (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Police Department, retired). A full list of signators is below.

The brief lays out the multitude of advantages DACA provides to law enforcement officials and reflects the perspectives and experiences of leaders in jurisdictions heavily impacted by immigration. The signatories hail a community policing approach based on trust and engagement between law enforcement and those they protect, and consider DACA to be crucial to maintaining that trust. Its absence, they argue, would inflame fears that neither undocumented immigrants nor their lawfully present family and neighbors could turn to the police without facing drastic consequences.

“Rescinding DACA would be a devastating step backwards as my officers work to build trust with immigrant communities,” said Chief Chris Magnus, of the Tucson, Arizona Police Department. “Without that trust, we lose valuable lines of communication, witnesses to crimes, and information needed to protect populations that face heightened risks of crime and exploitation.”

DACA’s guarantee of protection from deportation encourages helpful communication with law enforcement, without which community policing cannot thrive. Destruction of that public trust would hamper the capabilities of law enforcement and prosecutors while fostering crime-friendly conditions in at-risk communities, the brief’s signatories argue.

The amicus brief was authored by the Chicago law firm of Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, Ltd., in conjunction with Georgetown Law’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP). Fair and Just Prosecution, a national network of newly elected prosecutors committed to change and innovation, coordinated the amicus effort. In November of last year, the same organizations filed an amicus brief on behalf of prosecutors and law enforcement leaders in support of a lawsuit by the State of California resisting Trump Administration efforts to entangle local police in federal immigration enforcement.

“This brief represents the expert opinions of leaders who interact with immigrant communities and work to preserve public safety on a daily basis,” said Joshua Geltzer, ICAP’s executive

director and visiting professor at Georgetown Law. “At this critical juncture for resolving issues of immigration law and policy, their voices need to be heard. And they are clearly and definitively standing behind DACA.” The amicus brief is available here.

For additional questions, or to speak with amici, please contact Miriam Krinsky at krinskym@krinsky.la or 818-416-5218.

EXHIBIT A: LIST OF AMICI

National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), an organization committed to Justice by Action, with nearly 60 chapters and representing over 3,000 members worldwide, including chief executive officers and command level law enforcement officials from federal, state, county, and municipal law enforcement agencies, and other criminal justice practitioners;

Art Acevedo

Police Chief, Houston, Texas

Roy L. Austin

Former Deputy Assistant to the President for Urban Affairs, Justice and Opportunity, White House Domestic Policy Council

Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Columbia

Aramis Ayala

State Attorney, Ninth Judicial Circuit (Orlando), Florida

Chiraag Bains

Former Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice

Former Trial Attorney, Criminal Section, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice

Diana Becton

District Attorney, Contra Costa County, California

Charles Beck

Police Chief, Los Angeles, California

Hillary Blout

Former Assistant District Attorney, San Francisco, California

Chris Burbank

Former Police Chief, Salt Lake County, Utah

Director, Law Enforcement Engagement, Center for Policing Equity

Jerry L. Clayton

Sheriff, Washtenaw County, Michigan

Brendan Cox

Former Police Chief, Albany, New York

Mark Curran

Sheriff, Lake County, Illinois

Ronald Davis

Former Director, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

Former Police Chief, East Palo Alto, California

Stephen Downing

Former Deputy Police Chief, Los Angeles, California

Mark A. Dupree, Sr.

District Attorney, Wyandotte County (Kansas City), Kansas

George C. Eskin

Former Judge, California Superior Court

Former Chief Assistant City Attorney, Los Angeles

Former Assistant District Attorney, Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, California

Tony Estrada

Sheriff, Santa Cruz County, Arizona

Kenneth Ferguson

Police Chief, Framingham, Massachusetts

Shelley Fox-Loken

Former Corrections and Parole/Probation Officer, State of Oregon

Neill Franklin

Former Major, Baltimore City and Maryland State Police Departments

Randy Gaber

Assistant Police Chief, Madison, Wisconsin

Brian Gaughan

Former Officer, Davenport, Iowa and Chicago, Illinois Police Departments

Sarah F. George

State’s Attorney, Chittenden County, Vermont

Michael Gilbert

Former Corrections Officer, Alaska and Arizona Departments of Corrections

Sim Gill

District Attorney, Salt Lake County, Utah

Diane Goldstein

Former Lieutenant Commander, Redondo Beach Police Department, California

Eric Gonzalez

District Attorney, Kings County (Brooklyn), New York

Mark Gonzalez

District Attorney, Nueces County (Corpus Christi), Texas

Ronald Haddad

Police Chief, Dearborn, Michigan

Michael Haley

Former Sheriff, Washoe County, Nevada

Michael Hilliard

Former Major, Baltimore Police Department, Maryland

Lawrence S. Krasner

District Attorney, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Miriam Aroni Krinsky

Executive Director, Fair and Just Prosecution

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney, Central District of California

Former Criminal Appellate Chief and Chief, General Crimes, Central District of California

Former Chair, Solicitor General’s Criminal Appellate Advisory Group

Chief William Landsdowne

Former Police Chief, San Diego County, California

Former Police Chief, San Jose County, California

Former Police Chief, Richmond, California

Chris Magnus

Police Chief, Tucson, Arizona

John Matthews II

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Puerto Rico

Gordon D. McAllister, Jr.

Former Judge, District Court of Tulsa, Oklahoma

Beth McCann

District Attorney, 2nd Judicial Circuit (Denver), Colorado

Bill McCarthy

Sheriff, Polk County (Des Moines), Iowa

Steve Miller

Former Sergeant, Canton Police Department, Michigan

Teri Moore

Former Patrol Officer, Los Angeles Police Department, California

Marilyn J. Mosby

State’s Attorney, Baltimore City, Maryland

John Padgett

Former Sergeant, City of Augusta Police, Richmond County Sheriff’s Department, Georgia

Corey Pegues

Former Deputy Inspector, New York City Police Department, New York

Joe Pelle

Sheriff, Boulder County, Colorado

Titus Peterson

Former Lead Felony Investigator, Fifth Judicial District, Colorado

Channing Phillips

Former Acting U.S. Attorney, District of Columbia

Former Senior Counselor to the Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice

Former Deputy Associate Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice

Abdul Pridgen

Police Chief, Seaside, California

Mark Prosser

Director, Department of Public Safety, Storm Lake, Iowa

Charles Ramsey

Former Commissioner, Philadelphia Police Department, Pennsylvania

Ira Reiner

Former District Attorney, Los Angeles County, California

Former City Attorney, Los Angeles, California

Celestino Rivera

Police Chief, Lorain, Ohio

Dan Satterberg

Prosecuting Attorney, King County (Seattle), Washington

Ronal Serpas

Co-Chairman, Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime & Incarceration

Former Superintendent, New Orleans Police Department, Louisiana

Former Chief, Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, Tennessee

Former Chief, Washington State Patrol

Carol A. Siemon

Prosecuting Attorney, Ingham County (Lansing), Michigan

Norm Stamper

Former Police Chief, Seattle, Washington

Ray Strack

Former Special Agent, Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Carl Tennenbaum

Former Sergeant, San Francisco Police Department, California

Raúl Torrez

District Attorney, Bernalillo County (Albuquerque), New Mexico

Michael Tupper

Police Chief, Marshalltown, Iowa

Cyrus R. Vance, Jr.

District Attorney, New York County (Manhattan), New York

Allison Watson

Former Assistant District Attorney, 13th Judicial District, Tennessee

Richard Wiles

Sheriff, El Paso County, Texas