SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Civil rights advocates say Texas law enforcement officers providing immigration authorities with details of motorists who have been cited and are suspected of being in the country illegally could amount to racial profiling.
The San Antonio Express-News reports the Department of Public Safety has shared the names of hundreds of people with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the past two years.
Adriana Piñon with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas says she’s concerned that state troopers are participating in immigration enforcement when they are trained to enforce state criminal law. She says the “big concern for us is racial profiling.”
Advocates say the practice helps ICE find undocumented immigrants who may be a threat to public safety. It’s unclear how many people have been deported under the arrangement.