Washington County Quorum Court continues to discuss the ordinance to accept federal funds through the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP). Quorum Court is the governing council in county government, particularly in Arkansas. The role of the County Quorum Court varies by state and county, but generally is responsible for passing ordinances, resolutions, and policies such as zoning regulations, budget approval, and other local laws. They also select members of county boards and commissions.
Last October 2023, the Washington County Quorum Court Finance and Budget Committee voted to approve the acceptance of the funds. The program continues to be subject to discussions and debates over the years in the context of immigration policies and federal funding for state and local law enforcement. The Sheriff’s Office maintains that SCAAP has nothing to do with deportations but Justice of the Peace, Beth Coger, said “We know ICE has a huge presence in our jail and it doesn’t make sense that the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and ICE would pay the county to give information on what they call undocumented criminal aliens if they don’t use it to locate people.”
SCAAP is a U.S. federal program provides reimbursement to states for correctional officers salary costs for imprisoning undocumented immigrants with at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions for at least four days. Washington County participates in this program voluntarily providing the book records of “criminal aliens” to the Department of Homeland Security. Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition argues that it incentivizes police to hold undocumented individuals, or who they believe are undocumented, in jail longer to qualify for SCAAP funds. The SCAAP grant application for 2023 list the information from 187 individual inmate records, which included their name, release date, and home and work addresses. The two largest groups represented where Marshallese (109) and Mexican (39). The program approved $117,953 in funds.
The ordinance to accept the SCAAP funding required 10 out of 12 votes to pass. With four Justices of the Peace voting no, the ordinance did not pass. This is the second vote on the ordinance. Failing to pass for a second time, the court proposed to read it for a third time and vote again next month: February 15, 6:00 pm at the Washington County Courthouse.
Due to a power outage, the Quorum Court meeting scheduled for Thursday, January 18, was rescheduled to Monday, January 22. The first item on the agenda, after agenda preliminaries, was to discuss SCAAP funds. During the 15 minute public comment period, Michelle Pedro from the Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese and Sarah Moore from the Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition spoke about the impact of SCAAP on the Marshallese community in Washington County. Michelle urged the Quorum Court not to sellout the Marshallese for SCAAP funds: “I understand we want to protect our community, our neighbors, our families, but this is not the way to do it…Our community is small, don’t do this to our community. Please end SCAAP.” Sarah Moore also stressed how SCAAP impacts the Marshallese community: “Early this month, 21 Marshallese men were impacted because of our participation in SCAAP and other federal programs that gave additional information about these individuals.” She talked about Mina and her family who were at the meeting that night: “Mina and her husband, Randy, have been here over 20 years. They have four children, ages 8 to 21. All U.S. citizens. The kids are putting their lives on right because they’re waiting for their dad to come home. If he is goes home, he has no one in the islands, and he won’t be able to come back for 20 years. Randy worked throughout the pandemic for Tyson in manufacturing and distribution in Rogers. There’s another gentlemen who’s now in Louisiana facing deportation that has a one-year-old son. If he’s deported, he’ll grow up here without his father.” Randy’s family was in attendance at the Quorum Court meeting. They heard that from him in Louisiana and he is awaiting his court date at the end of February.
Justice Coger addressed the other Justices of the Peace: “Since last month’s meeting, two nonprofits that I work with were approached by leaders of the Marshallese and Latinx community. They told us that yes, they’re fearful of Department of Homeland Security having their personal information. Yes, they’re fearful of the police. I’m just asking that everyone in the criminal justice system be treated the same regardless of their country of birth. That our immigrant community, our immigrant neighbors, have access to the same justice system as we do, without the fear that DHS or ICE is going to come and take them away from their families.”
Before the discussion of the ordinance, the Quorum Court Judge urged the court to “restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his or her own actions. We’ve had a real perversion in this county of talking about the criminal and how unfair it is that they have experienced law enforcement and brushed up against our criminal justice system.” Justice Lyons, who also voted to accept the SCAAP funds, said “if you’re an immigrant and you’re here illegally, you put yourself into that situation when you break the law. We use this money very well to help our inmates that are there and I don’t see any reason not to approve it and continue through that process.” Justice Ricker argued that all booking information, except for that of juveniles, is subject to freedom of information and “we can’t keep it from anyone.” Justice Pond also said that intergovernmental cooperation is important and withholding the information will waste tax money.
Justice Dennis however talked about how family-oriented the Marshallese are: “I have a great time any time I do a Marshallese wedding. I’ve got some good pictures and they dress beautifully.” He asked “How bad of a crime does someone have to do to be deported? I’m assuming that the law is the same for Marshallese as it is any other immigrant that has come here. But I though they had special privileges over and above the other immigrants. So can someone tell me what get you sent home or deported?” Justice Coger answered: “I can’t speak as to what gets someone deported but I can speak for SCAAP. It has to be if they’re convicted of one felony or two misdemeanors. Misdemeanors can be traffic offenses. One of the Marshallese that was taken from his family earlier this month had a DWI from seven years ago. It was all cleared and he had been living his live and he was picked up by five black SUVS that came to his house. Picked him up and his family didn’t know where he was.”
During the second period for public comment, Aaron Killingsworth also spoke about how devastating this has been for the Marshallese community. In particular, one of his students is temporarily unhoused, because his father’s work and home addresses had been provided to Homeland Security through the SCAAP program.
Killingsworth addressed the Quorum Court saying: “it seems that some of you are a little bit unaware of the relationship that the Marshallese have with the United States. They are here because of the actions of the United States that has rendered large portions of their homeland uninhabitable. And the Compact of Free Association allows them to come and work here but no path to citizenship. So they are designated as resident aliens and therefore are eligible for deportation for a few traffic violations or a DWI. And in a lot of cases, these people have already served their time and paid their fines, and then a year and a half later they’re picked up and deported. A lot of times these are the primary income earners for their families. You throw an entire group of people into disarray. I know that you think that you are protecting our community, but you are not. You are creating more disruption and making the lives of people harder.”
Killingsworth also referenced Amos who rebuked the northern kingdom of Israel “for the way they were carrying out justice. The thing that they were specifically rebuked for was selling the poor for silver. This feels no different. It seems like we are selling out our friends and neighbors for a hundred grand.”
