The Board of Directors of the Eureka Unitarian Universalist Fellowship is asking that Sheriff Daniel Klatt withdraw from the 287(g) Task Force Model agreement he signed in March with ICE.
We spoke out about this at the Aug. 18 Quorum Court meeting, represented by our Social Action Chair, and we are encouraging our larger membership to write letters to the editor, continue contacting JPs and contact Sheriff Klatt.
While we were grateful that the emergency ordinance before the Quorum Court to set up a fund in the budget to receive money from ICE failed, the sheriff’s voluntary contract with ICE remains. We had been pleased that Carroll was not among Northwest Arkansas counties entering into the Task Force Model agreements, only to learn that Sheriff Klatt had entered into such an agreement without announcement, long before it became public.
Our strong feeling is that the deputies have routine law enforcement actions to pursue; they are not federal ICE agents and should not act as such.
We, along with our national Unitarian Universalist Association, strongly oppose county sheriff departments signing 287(g) Task Force Model agreements with ICE. We view these partnerships as harmful extensions of a federal deportation machine that fractures community trust and targets vulnerable populations.
We believe that sheriff deputies acting as de facto immigration agents deters immigrant members of communities from reporting crimes or cooperating with local safety officials.
We also align with human rights advocates warning that the 287(g) Task Force Model dramatically increases the documented risk of racial profiling during everyday interactions like traffic stops.
Kate McCarty, Lynn Larson, Al Larson, Renee Wood, Karen Okupniak, Michelle McDonald, Barbara Kahn, Bryan Manire, Gem Frederick, Jordana Lipsitz, Sally Gorrell
Thank you UU peacemakers.
THANK YOU EUUF