Florida International University Chief of Police Alexander Casas repeatedly assured students and faculty on Wednesday that his department would not engage in racial profiling under its pending agreement to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce the Trump administration’s immigration agenda. The plan has drawn mounting backlash from the predominantly Hispanic school’s students and faculty.
At an emotional, two-hour forum attended by nearly 200 students, faculty and community members, Casas faced pointed questions about ICE’s controversial 287(g) program which the university signed onto in April. If enacted, a group oftrained FIU officers would be given the authority to stop, question, and in some cases detain individuals suspected of being in the country illegally.
Seated on a panel with immigrant rights advocates and legal experts — FIU law professor Juan Carlos Gómez; Alana Greer of the Miami-based Community Justice Project; Renata Bozzetto, deputy director for the Florida Immigrant Coalition; and FIU student Dariel Gomez — Casas promised that FIU officers wouldn’t question individuals on campus without a warrant or probable cause.
But when asked by moderator Clara-Sophia Daly, Miami Herald’s education reporter, to define what could constitute probable cause to determine if a person was undocumented, Casas said, “I couldn’t tell you.” Probable cause would be determined on a case by case basis, he said…