Syracuse University immigration researchers are suing to obtain records of immigration enforcement records withheld by the Trump administration. The researchers are asking for immigration-detainer forms that record the transfer of immigrants from local to federal custody. They say the information is key to assessing the debate over President Donald Trump’s vow to increase the use of detainers and revoke funding for local agencies that refuse to comply with them. (Courthouse News Service, May 11, 2017, by Barbara Leonard)
The federal government makes detainer requests to local law enforcement to hold persons for up to 48 hours to allow ICE a chance to decide on deportation. Some agencies have refused to honor the requests. The complaint seeking the detainer forms states, “Prompt release of these public records is important because of the heightened and immediate public interest in this information, as evidenced by, among other things, more than a hundred news, legal and scholarly articles published in the first 100 days of the Trump administration alone citing to the TRAC database on immigration enforcement actions.” (WUNC, March 30, 2017, by Alex Newman)