The defeat of Republican mayor Richard Hyde of Waukegan by Richard Sabonjian on April 7th was unfortunate for two reasons. First, it continued the string of Republican losses in Chicago suburbs and exurbs, traditional GOP strongholds, triggered by a major realignment of immigrant voting patterns — a string that started with the G.O.P. loss of Denny Hastert’s district, Illinois 14th. Second, the proximate reason for Hyde’s loss was his support of 287(g) authority — the program that deputizes local law enforcement to investigate and develop immigration cases against illegal aliens on the basis of federal law.

287(g) authority, which facilitates cooperation between federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities is potentially a vital component in combating illegal-alien crime. But like E-Verify, 287(g) is a victim to the fanaticism of its advocates. As Kris Kobach made abundantly clear in his testimony before the House Committee on Judiciary subcommittees on Constitution and Immigration, 287(g) is not limited to removal of illegals who are terrorists, felons, or threats to public safety. He stated (Apr. 2, 2009):

A myth has arisen recently concerning Section 287(g). That myth holds that the program has only one purpose, and that purpose is to arrest illegal aliens who have committed serious felonies in addition to their violations of federal immigration law…
… It must be made clear that neither the statutory language of Section 287(g), nor the language of any of the committee reports on this legislation in 1996 contains any such limitations on its scope.

During the mayoral campaign, Sabonjian and his allies made it abundantly clear to the 31% of the Waukegan electorate that is Hispanic that 287(g) applied to otherwise law-abiding illegal workers. Hispanics voted overwhelmingly against the mayor, who had supported the program.

The tragedy of 287(g), which has been adopted by less than 100 of the nation’s 17,000 local law-enforcement agencies, is that it is genuinely needed where it is most resisted — i.e., in communities with a heavy immigrant presence. The resistance to 287(g) and to E-Verify will vanish among these communities the moment the specter of mass deportations vanish.

Unfortunately, the self-appointed angels of these programs seem more concerned with the mass removal of illegals than with either work-force verification or law enforcement.

— Richard Nadler is president of the Americas Majority Foundation, a public-policy think tank in Overland Park, Kan.