Debbie Russell/ACLU tries blocking immigration enforcement in Austin, Texas (ICE, jails)

The American Civil Liberties Union is collaborating with the Mexican government, so the following shouldn't be much of a surprise:

An ACLU attorney [ACLU of Texas Central Texas Chapter President Debbie Russell] and immigration rights' advocate [Austin Immigrants' Rights Coalition member Caroline Keating-Guerra] sighed with some relief after the City of Austin Human Rights Commission passed seven recommendations Monday to city council regarding immigration control at Travis County Jail.

...The commission recommended, rather than arresting persons involved in non-violent Class A or Class B misdemeanors and taking them to jail, the Austin Police Department and the Travis County Sheriff's Department should issue citations and court summons at their discretion, as indicated in Texas House Bill 2391.

Once in jail, they might be checked by Immigrations and Custom Enforcement to see if they were illegal aliens or otherwise deportable. Needless to say, the ACLU wants as little of that as possible:

"I think there's also a lot of assumptions from the County Sheriff's office that they have to give certain access, and I think they're assuming too much in favor of ICE having access," Russell said. "I think they could limit the hours that they are allowed to go into the jail, and if the sheriff sees it as his job to process individuals, if they're getting the way, he can limit their access, so we just need to get down in writing how much so."

Immigration2007b · Mon, 06/23/2008 - 19:30 · · Importance: 1