Instilling Confidence in the Criminal Justice System for the Immigrant Community

• Jurisdiction: United States,Federal,California
• Citation: Vol. 17 No. 3
• Publication year: 2017
• Author: By Allison G. Macbeth
• topic: Civil Rights,Immigration Law,Criminal Law

INSTILLING CONFIDENCE IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM FOR THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY

By Allison G. Macbeth^*

Well after the recent presidential election, immigration remains at the forefront of the national debate. This public debate, though, has negatively impacted the criminal justice system in real ways. Recent statistics provided by law enforcement have shown that reports of crime in immigrant communities are down. For example, reports of domestic violence are down 18 percent among the Latino community and down 29 percent among the city's Asian community for the first half of 2017 compared to the same time in 2016, according to SFPD data.

The fears harbored by the undocumented immigrant community are real and legitimate. The Los Angeles Times reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested a criminal defendant as he walked out of the courtroom.¹ The defendant's attorney, Mr. Octavio Chaidez, said he had never—in his 15 years as a defense attorney—seen ICE agents make an arrest...