A panel of activists gathered to discuss the Broome County Sheriff’s Office’s ongoing collaboration with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

More than 150 people came to the United Presbyterian Church of Binghamton on Thursday to listen to four panelists: Hussein Adams, executive director and CEO of the American Civic Association; Zachary Ahmad, senior policy counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union; Luna Azcurrain, jail visitation project coordinator at Justice and Unity in the Southern Tier; and Dara Silberstein, attorney, associate research professor and program director of Binghamton University’s department of women, gender and sexuality studies.

The discussion was moderated by Rev. Kimberly Chastain, pastor and head of staff at the church. Panelists and local community members discussed the growing debate in the community over Sheriff Fred Akshar’s participation in ICE’s Warrant Service Officer program and the quality of life for arrestees in the county jail.

“There have been examples of U.S. citizens being profiled or wrongly detained, unlawfully detained, by ICE for periods of time before being released,” Ahmad said, referring to nationwide reports. “We are really seeing an out of control immigration enforcement regime.”

The panel discussed the 287(g) agreement signed by Akshar’s office in March, which allows state and local law enforcement “to serve and execute administrative warrants on aliens in their agency’s jail,” according to the program’s website. Akshar, who signed the agreement on March 10, told Pipe Dream at the time that only the corrections division would serve these warrants to “lawfully detained adult individuals within the correctional facility.”

In a fact sheet, Akshar stated that the correctional facility’s budget would not change due to housing ICE detainees and that the federal government pays the county $110 per detainee per day. He also stated that officers would receive the necessary training to execute these warrants from ICE.

Azcurrain, a senior double-majoring in sociology and Latin American and Caribbean studies, works firsthand with the detainees and raised concerns she had with the program’s implementation.

“This is very financially beneficial to ICE specifically, because they reimburse us half of what it costs to hold somebody at [Broome County Jail], which is $110,” Azcurrain said. “So, they’re only paying $110 and the county is paying the other half. So, not only are we paying to help detain these folks, but we are also now paying to have more staff.”

More staffing is needed because of the increase in detainees since the agreement’s signing, according to Azcurrain. Many of the new detainees arrived elsewhere in northern and central New York. She also claimed that the correctional facility lacks adequate translation resources, making it difficult for detainees to attend court hearings, contact their families, or file grievances with the sheriff’s office.

Adams said the town hall was a “great first step” and encouraged attendees to continue speaking out against ICE activity locally and nationwide.

Ahmad then highlighted the “New York for All” act, a proposed state bill that would ban 287(g) agreements in New York and forbid state, local and law enforcement officials from collaborating with ICE. California and Washington state have enacted laws restricting certain officials from working with ICE and inquiring about residents’ citizenship status. Vermont, Illinois, Oregon and Colorado also placed limits on authorities enforcing federal immigration law.

He encouraged residents to contact their state representatives and urge them to pass the bill.

“New York state and the counties and the cities can all draw a firm line in the sand and say we’re not going to be complicit in what’s going on,” said Ahmad. “We’re not going to share information with ICE. We’re not going to hand people over who are in local custody into ICE custody.”

Both the state assembly and senate versions of the bill, first introduced in January 2021, currently sit in committee. While labor unions and state legislators have voiced support for the measure over the years, it has never made it to the floor.

Akshar’s office pushed back against some of the claims made by Thursday’s panelists.

“Despite these repeated falsehoods, our BCSO team has been crystal-clear with our community from the start,” Akshar said in a statement to Pipe Dream. “The BCSO’s specific participation in the 287(g) program has zero impact on immigration enforcement in Broome County or any other community. Their false claims are easily disproven with even the simplest look at immigration enforcement in communities nationwide.”

The panel came three days after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted an injunction placed by a federal district court that prevented immigration officers from stopping people in the Los Angeles area if those stops were based on any of the following factors: an individual’s presence at certain locations like bus stops, agricultural sites and car washes; “the type of work one does;” “speaking Spanish or English with an accent;” and “apparent race or ethnicity.”

The ACLU argued the court’s decision would allow ICE to investigate individuals on the basis of race or spoken accent. The Department of Homeland Security hailed the ruling as a “major victory” and claimed the federal government enforces immigration law “without fear, favor, or prejudice.”

“Our sheriff’s office is participating in the systemic racism that the Supreme Court has just allowed to continue,” said Silberstein. “It’s really important to understand that many of the kinds of structural inequities that have existed in policing in general are now being extended through ICE.”