Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill is forging ahead with efforts to force Orleans Parish to change a policy that prohibits sheriff’s deputies from directly engaging with in federal immigration enforcement.
Murrill says the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office is breaking the law by not cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and she says New Orleans’ sanctuary city policy violates state and federal law.
“There is no valid reason for OPSO to be obstructing ICE,” Murrill said.
Murrill
| File photo
Now, sheriff policy doesn’t allow deputies to investigate immigration violations or detain immigrants for ICE without a court order except in instances involving violent crimes. A consent decree also requires those subjected to an immigration hold must be released after 48 hours.
Murrill’s office wants that policy tossed based on a new state law that requires law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The AG’s office also cites the Trump administration's increased focus on immigration enforcement.
“The consent decree now sits fundamentally at odds with state law as applicable to immigration detainers,” the AG’s office said in an April 11 filing.
The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office policy goes back to a 2013 settlement in a federal civil rights case. Two construction workers were arrested in 2009 and 2010 and later sued claiming they illegally were held in the city jail past the completion of their sentences. Instead of the 48 hours, the two men said they were held for months.
The new law was signed last spring. Act 314 blocks sanctuary policies prohibiting state and local law enforcement officers from cooperating with federal immigration agencies such as ICE.
A hearing is set in federal court for April 30.