How one Arkansas county helps ICE make hundreds of arrests and spreads fear among immigrants

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ROGERS, Ark. (AP) — Northwest Arkansas has emerged as a hot spot in the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, the result of one county’s partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and aggressive traffic stops by police.

The region offers a window into what the future may hold in places where law enforcement agencies cooperate broadly with ICE, as the Department of Homeland Security offers financial incentives in exchange for help making arrests.

The Associated Press reviewed ICE arrest data, law enforcement records and interviewed local residents. Here are some takeaways from that reporting.

More than 450 people were arrested by ICE at the Benton County Jail from Jan. 1 through Oct. 15, according to ICE arrest data from the University of California Berkeley Deportation Data Project analyzed by AP. That’s more than 1.5 arrests per day in the county of roughly 300,000 people.

Most of the arrests were made through the county’s so-called 287(g) agreement, named for a section of immigration law, that allows deputies to question people who are booked into the jail about their immigration status. In fact, the county’s program accounted for more than 4% of roughly 7,000 arrests nationwide that were attributed to similar programs during the first 9 1/2 months of this year, according to the data.

Under the program, deputies alert ICE to inmates suspected of being in the country illegally. They are usually held without bond and eventually transferred into ICE custody. They are typically moved to the neighboring Washington County Detention Center in Fayetteville and then taken to detention centers in Louisiana for potential deportation.

About half of those arrested by ICE through the program in Benton County had been convicted of crimes, while the other half had charges pending, according to the data. But the severity of the charges varied widely.

Jail records show those on recent ICE holds include people who had been arrested on forgery, sexual assault, drug trafficking, theft and public intoxication charges.

Offenses related to domestic violence and unsafe driving were among the most common.

Local observers say they have tracked an uptick in people facing ICE detention after traffic stops involving violations such as driving without a license.

The program produces uneven criminal accountability. Charges are often dropped before defendants are convicted or sentenced so they can face deportation proceedings.

ICE now has more than 1,180 cooperation agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies, up from 135 at the start of the new administration. It has offered payments to cover costs of training, equipment and salaries in some circumstances.

Arrests under the programs have surged in recent months as more agencies get started, ICE data shows.

The growth has been particularly pronounced in Republican-led states such as Florida, where new laws encourage or require such cooperation.

Earlier this year, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law requiring county sheriffs to cooperate with ICE through either a 287(g) program at the jail or a program in which they serve ICE warrants to expedite detentions and removals.

Residents born in other countries said they were afraid to drive in northwest Arkansas regardless of whether they had legal status.

Some said they leave home only to go to work, have groceries and food delivered rather than eat out, and avoid leisure activities.

One 73-year-old man born in Venezuela said that his apartment “is a kind of jail,” because he fears getting arrested and deported when he ventures out.

The area includes communities of people born in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and the Marshall Islands.

A Rogers police officer pulled over 35-year-old Cristina Osornio in September and cited her for driving without insurance and a suspended license. She was running an errand for her job at the time.

The officer found Osornio had a warrant for missing a court appearance in a misdemeanor case, and took her to the Benton County Jail.

She was jailed for four days on an ICE hold, records show, even though she is a permanent legal resident who has lived in the U.S. since she was 3 months old. Osornio said the detention was “very scary” and that she was released without explanation.

Her husband, who had entered the country illegally, had a different outcome.

Records show he was arrested in a misdemeanor domestic violence case last year and put on an ICE hold at the jail. He was transferred into ICE custody in January and has since been deported to Mexico.

Osornio said that being separated from her husband has been devastating financially and emotionally. The family lost their home, and their two young children miss their father, she said.

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Foley reported from Iowa City, Iowa.