By Anthony Obi Ogbo (International Guardian, Houston, TX).
As Ed Gonzalez, a former Houston City Council member, and the democratic candidate for the Harris County Sheriff battles his way through the polls in November to unseat the incumbent, Ron Hickman, two major issues remain apparent as conceivable factors that might define the race. The anxiety fueled by the Trump anti-immigration rhetoric, and the dilapidated nature of the Harris County Prisons notoriously making the headlines around the globe are issues which might punctuate the troubling status quo with a new face; a different management; and fundamentally a different line of administrative action.
Challenger, Ed Gonzalez said his candidacy was motivated by the persistence of issues that submerge not only the Harris County jail system, but also the entire supervision of the sector. For instance, this office is yet to scale through the prevalent scandals in the county jail system. It may be recalled that it was in this enclave a twenty-four year old Terry Goodwin, incarcerated on a marijuana charge and reportedly in need of mental health care, but was allegedly locked in a filth-ridden solitary confinement amidst piles of excrement, rotting trash and swarms of insects.
Goodwin terrifying issue coupled with other similar incidents have visibly driven the African-American community from having any trust in the Sheriff’s office. To make it worse, notoriety of mismanagement kept building up with deleterious news headlines. Early September this year, disturbing surveillance video caught several employees beating up an inmate at the jail’s medical center. The inmate was at the clinic for medical treatment, but surveillance video shows the employees punching the inmate in an attempt to subdue him after he had been restrained.
♦ Texas jail allegedly kept mentally ill inmate in fetid cell for weeks
Yet reckless management oversights remained a stumbling block to redeem the image of the Harris County Sheriff’s office under the current command. In June, one Christopher Johnson filed a suit against the Harris County Sheriff’s Department after claims that booking personnel assaulted him for smiling during his mugshot. According to Johnson’s attorney, Andre Evans, “The Harris County employee told him that if he didn’t stop smiling, that he was going to make him stop smiling. He then got another employee of Harris County jail and they both place their hands around his neck. This is a clear violation of him first amendment free speech rights, as well as a case of excessive force.”
♦ Protesters Gather at Sheriff’s Office to Speak On Immigration
Internal management of the Harris County Sheriff’s office is not left out in the current supervisory meltdown. It was reliably gathered that at the moment, employee morale is in its lowest ebb, whereas field officers operate with dilapidated equipment, and in most cases forced into laborious overtime shifts. Furthermore, the African-American community and other minority group are disappointed over the ethnic component at the Sheriff’s Office and activists have long expressed disappointment for what may be perceived as a lack of shared political interests. For instance, in the past five years or so, no single African officer has earned a notable promotion, International Guardian had gathered.
♦ Deputies: 6 Harris County jail workers assault inmate at medical clinic
Yet, the major issue remains citizens’ concern about using field officers to enforce immigration laws. Last year, multiple immigrant advocacy groups once stormed the Harris County Sheriff’s Office to protest raids and deportation in the Harris County. The groups was frustrated with how immigrants are being treated, specifically after several undocumented immigrants were detained at La Espiga de Oro, a Heights tortilla factory.
♦ Protesters tell Houston sheriff: ‘Stop deportations!’
In the current race for the Office of the Harris County Sheriff, immigration might play a decisive role International Guardian gathered. For example, Sheriff Hickman’s support for the 287(g) program has been denounced by various activists. The 287(g) program is one of ICE’s top partnership initiatives, which allows a state or local law enforcement entity to enter into a partnership with ICE to receive delegated authority for immigration enforcement within their jurisdictions.
Currently, ICE has 287(g) agreements with 32 law enforcement agencies in 16 states. From January 2006 through September 30, 2015, the 287(g) program reportedly identified more than 402,079 potentially removable aliens – mostly at local jails. ICE has trained and certified more than 1,675 state and local officers to enforce immigration law.
Challenger Ed Gonzalez, a Democrat, however denounced this process, vowing that immigration enforcement must be kept out of the Harris County jail. Gonzalez argues that the Congress must work to pass comprehensive immigration reform, but points out that a failure of the Congress to act should not require local agencies to do its work. According to Gonzalez, “The current 287(g) program is a strain on valuable police resources and taxpayer’s money. Worse, it is a violation of due process rights and leads to racial profiling, the separation of families and a mistrust of deputies. Harris County deserves better.”
Without doubt, the Harris County Sheriff’s office is submerged in a near irredeemable slumber, and the November polls holds its antidote for a new and better direction. With Donald Trump’s unfriendly immigration proposal and frightening deportation rhetoric, voters might turn all the way to the other side. For instance, last month, new poll numbers show Hillary Clinton with a 10-point lead over Donald Trump among registered voters in Harris County.
♦ Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump in Harris County poll
With 47 days left until the Election Day then, the poll from the University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs shows Clinton leading Trump 42 percent to 32 percent. Nine percent support Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson, while 2 percent support Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Fifteen percent are undecided. Analysts believe these numbers would filter down to other major races, including that of the Country Sheriff. If indeed these perceptions are anything to go by, Harris County would be welcoming a brand new Sheriff come November.
Leave a Reply