The question of whether Harris County sheriff's deputies and other local law enforcement officers should be able to run checks on the immigration status of people they arrest is like a political hand grenade, and it stirs deep feelings in people on both sides of the national immigration debate.

But there's one element of the so-called "287(g)" program that is often overlooked: The public's access to records pertaining to those arrests and checks.

The mingling of local and federal money and resources in underwriting 287(g) programs in Houston and elsewhere has the potential to take records that would normally be subject to state or municipal information laws and place them in the domain of more stringent, and less effective, federal records laws.

"It's an element of 287(g) that most people aren't aware of, but under this, it takes longer to get these records," Rebecca Bernhardt, policy director at the ACLU of Texas, told Texas Watchdog. "Under federal law, the wait can be six months or longer. Under local (law), these bodies generally respond in 10 days."

The Harris County Commissioners' Court meeting Tuesday was a packed affair -- the second such gathering in a month to drive such interest -- and today's draw was the continuation of the 287(g) agreement between the county and the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE. Commissioners today signed off on the extended agreement, which is effective through Oct. 15, 2011.

The 287(g) program trains local law enforcement officers in illegal immigration enforcement techniques. Sheriff’s deputies run checks on the immigration status of detainees. If the person isn't in the country legally, their cases go through the local judicial system, after which they are turned over to ICE for possible deportation.

Truly, federal Freedom of Information Act requests are not met with the same speedy response as most local and state-level requests; under the Texas Public Information Act, government bodies must respond to requests within 10 business days. This report shows that ICE is among the slower of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security entities in responding to FOIA requests.

Bernhardt echoes a concern felt in Nashville just last month. Check page four in this analysis from the ACLU of Tennessee for more. It's an issue we haven't heard much about here, but still looms as one of concern.

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