Town Council Pushes for Local Immigration Enforcement Training

The Herndon Town Council took the first step towards providing Herndon Police officers with immigration enforcement training on Tuesday night after voting 6 - 1 to request Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] training.

The request came after an often emotional public hearing that featured dozens of speakers both in support and opposed to the training, highlighting the polarization of a town that has been in the midst of a brutal debate on immigration since last summer.

Town manager Steve Owen will now work with Herndon Chief of Police Toussaint Summers to draft a letter of interest requesting a relationship with ICE officials. The next step is forming a Memorandum of Understanding [MOU] between ICE and the Town of Herndon outlining the specific authorities that the police would have under the training.

The Town of Herndon, if accepted for the training by ICE, will be one of the first town-level law enforcement agencies to engage in the immigration enforcement training. At the time of publication, ICE training agreements had been in place solely with state and county law enforcement agencies - many of them correctional institutions, according to ICE officials.

While supporters have said that the training is necessary to combat the threat of gang violence and sexual crimes, opponents have underlined that associating local police with immigration enforcement officials would only further alienate the Hispanic community from the town.

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Town Council Pushes for Local Immigration Enforcement Training
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