The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office and the 287(g) Immigration Program

JASPER COUNTY, TX-

Jasper County Sheriff Chuck Havard says that he has received a number of questions regarding Senate bill 8, Immigration Enforcement, and what role Jasper County Sheriff Staff will play in its enforcement. Because of this confusion, Havard has released the following information;

"Due to recent developments within the media community throughout our country and to help answer some of the questions I have been asked, I think it’s extremely important that the citizens of Jasper County know my position on Immigration Enforcement within Jasper County. In light of Senate Bill 8, Sheriffs may soon be required to follow the proposed legislative act if signed into law by Governor Abbott. In a nutshell, Senate bill 8 may mandate Sheriffs who oversee a jail to pursue agreements under section 287 (g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. If this passes, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office will comply with the law.

If Senate Bill 8 is enacted and signed into law, there will be three models to choose from. The three models are: The Jail Enforcement Model, The Warrant Service Officer Model and The Task Force Model.

The model which would be chosen by the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office will be The Warrant Service Officer Model. This model is the least intrusive and the least expensive to manage. This program will give our staff very limited authority to serve ICE warrants on illegal immigrants WHO ARE ALREADY incarcerated for criminal violations of the law and ICE has ALREADY made the decision to place warrants on these individuals. This will allow us to comply with the law.

In conclusion, we will always comply with lawful mandates and assist our state and federal partners anytime we are requested to do so. However, it’s not the job of local law-enforcement to act as ICE Agents in Jasper County."

Sheriff Chuck Havard