Livingston County Sheriff to record interactions with undocumented immigrants under resolution

BY KYLE DAVIDSON, MICHIGAN ADVANCE

MICHIGAN—Under a resolution approved by the Livingston County Board of Commissioners, the county sheriff’s office will begin documenting its interactions with undocumented immigrants “regardless of the nature of the contact.”

The board met Monday night, and unanimously approved the measure after nearly two hours of public testimony, according to a report from the Livingston Daily, which noted the bulk of public commenters stood opposed to the resolution.

It states “Whereas, citizens continue to express concerns about illegal immigration and its associated increase in crime, and whereas, ignoring these concerns, Border Czar Kamala Harris has permitted millions of illegal immigrants to cross our borders, and whereas, though largely denied and underreported by major media organizations, these illegal immigrants have contributed to an increase in crime.”

An investigation from The Marshall Project found no link between undocumented immigration and increased crime, while a study published by Oxford Economic Papers found that undocumented immigrants were 33% less likely to be institutionalized than U.S. natives.

The FBI also reported a 15.2% decrease in violent crime in the first quarter of 2024, with the Major Cities Chiefs Association—a professional organization of police executives representing the largest cities in the United States and Canada—releasing preliminary data in August showing a decrease in violent crime in the first half of the year when compared to 2023.

In the resolution, the board of commissioners states it would like additional data “to better assess the impact of illegal immigration,” noting that Livingston County Sheriff Mike Murphy is in “full agreement” in collecting and analyzing this data.

Murphy previously released a video explaining his support for the resolution, noting that the sheriff’s office does not track statistics on undocumented immigrants.

“It’s interesting that we keep statistics on all kinds of things, frankly. When we book somebody in, we know if they’re male, if they’re female. We know if they’re Black, they’re white, they’re Hispanic, Asian. We know their age…. It’s kind of ironic, I find, that we live in this statistic driven world where if you can’t measure something you can improve on it. But yet when we talk about keeping track of or knowing how many contacts we have with illegal immigrants, everybody’s hair gets on fire,” Murphy said.

“So the feds and the state want us to keep statistics on race because we in law enforcement do not racially profile, right? Nor should we. So they want us to keep that to be able to show that we’re not doing it. But yet, we wanna keep statistics on illegal immigrants, undocumented illegal people in our country, and somehow there’s an uproar that we shouldn’t be doing that,” Murphy said.

Following the passage of the resolution the Michigan Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), issued a statement of concern cosigned by a number of organizations including the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. It warns that the commissioners risk “running afoul of the law and igniting costly court fights while at the same time fostering division and endangering all the county’s residents.”

“Tracking immigration status is not the business of local law enforcement and takes valuable time away from the type of community policing that can actually help keep local communities safe. Most immigration violations are civil infractions under the purview of the federal government,” the statement reads.

“Implementing this resolution could likely lead to violations of state and federal law. Immigration law is extremely complicated and local officers can easily break the law if they take actions based on speculation regarding an individual’s legal status,” the statement continues. “Given the complexity of immigration law, and the danger that local law enforcement officers who are untrained in those complexities will impermissibly rely on race, religion or national origin when investigating immigration status, law enforcement agencies can best reduce their risk of liability by avoiding involvement in immigration matters and leaving enforcement of federal immigration law to federal immigration officials.”

In an email to members sent out prior to the board of commissioners meeting, the Livingston Diversity Council raised similar arguments, in addition to arguing the resolution would be a drain on tax dollars.

“Federal immigration law is among the most complex bodies of law in the United States. The training that would be required for local law enforcement officers to understand it would be extremely costly and take time from the work of keeping their communities safe,” it said.

It also warned that the measure could open the county up to litigation, resulting in a further drain on taxpayer dollars.

“Livingston County would be the first municipality in Michigan to pass such a measure. Most communities have recognized the danger of this kind of proposal including potential lawsuits,” the email said.

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This coverage was republished from Michigan Advance pursuant to a Creative Commons license.