Earlier this year, Northlake PD said it pulled over a van traveling north on I-35W with a group of people they believed did not have legal status. When the department asked federal agents for support, they refused to come out.
Now, the town is considering a partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to ensure appropriate action will be taken on anyone in or passing through Northlake that isn’t in the United States legally.
In a discussion at the council meeting July 23, Northlake Police Chief Robert Crawford said the department was interested in the Task Force Model of a 287(g) agreement.
The Task Force Model means select Northlake PD officers would have ICE oversight during their routine duties, according to the ICE website.
Denton County approved this level of partnership in January for the Denton County Sheriff’s Office and Bartonville approved the same level for its police department in June.
Northlake hasn’t approved an agreement, rather Mayor Brian Montini had requested Chief Crawford look into the matter and present information to council.
Montini said he was interested in the agreement due to the major highways going through Northlake, I-35W and Hwy 114, and recent reports of wrecks involving commercial truck drivers without legal status.
“Talking to officers and talking to Chief, we pull somebody over and ask for registration and insurance, sometimes we have a pretty good idea if they’re legal or illegal,” said Montini. “But with that stop, there’s no action we can take since we’re not jailing them. I would like an opportunity to correct that issue to make sure we’re not putting our drivers on the roads with people that we could possibly take off the road.”
According to a report from PBS, about 200,000 immigrants had their commercial driver’s licenses revoked in March.
Crawford recalled an incident when Northlake PD pulled over a van driving through town around 2 a.m. He said the van was full of about 10 people headed north to a worksite.
“We didn’t know their status, but we’re 99.9% sure they were illegal immigrants,” said Crawford. “We called ICE for assistance and they refused to come out.”
Since the department didn’t have any charges on the individuals in the van, they let them go. Council said that was concerning.
“I’m super supportive of being a hard place for illegal immigrants to exist – I think that’s one of the best ways to protect our citizens and the people who worked really hard to come here,” said council member Alex Holmes. “So to hear that you had maybe nine or 10 people within your grasp that shouldn’t be here, and that you had to let them go because you didn’t have the resources, I think more training and resources would be good.”
According to Crawford’s presentation, only officers with at least two years of experience would be eligible for the Task Force Model training, which would be about 40 hours worth.
Northlake PD could also possibly be reimbursed salary and benefits, as well as $7,500 for equipment, per trained Task Force Officer, $100,000 for a new vehicle and overtime funds up to 25% of salary.
The chief’s concerns include the extra training hours, which he anticipates to take longer than just 40 hours, current long processing times at jails, the possibility of liability and language barriers.
Council seemed in unanimous support of formally putting a 287(g) agreement with ICE on a future agenda.
“When you’re looking at highways such as [I-35W] and [Hwy] 114, we have a lot of people coming through that don’t necessarily live here,” said council member. “I believe it’s our duty to protect our residents and our citizens, and if we can give you more tools to do that, I think it’s super important that we do.”
They believe it could make the department a more attractive destination for officer talent, and help retain current officers.
Another reason council was supportive of the program was to combat trafficking that comes through North Texas.
The Denton County District Attorney’s Office recently became the first in North Texas to partner with the Human Trafficking Institute, which supports law enforcement and the DA’s office in identifying, investigating and prosecuting human trafficking cases.
Bob’s House of Home broke ground on the nation’s first safe house exclusively for male human trafficking survivors.
An agreement was not on the agenda at the Northlake Town Council meeting Tuesday, the most recent meeting.
