California's Ambivalent Relationship With 'Secure Communities': The California Report | The California Report. « Full episode for Thu, Dec 20, 2012 Download audio (MP3) Enlarge Spencer Platt/Getty Images A member of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). Reporter: Amy Isackson As the Obama administration prepares to tackle immigration reform, one of the pillars of its current immigration policy is dividing Democrats across the country. Under Secure Communities, ICE depends on local police to hold for 48 hours people that immigration agents suspect have immigration violations. An overdue fix to Secure Communities - LA Times. TRUST Act vetoed: Latinos lose trust in Gov. Jerry Brown. Gov. Jerry Brown signs bill to give illegal immigrants driver’s licenses but vetoes TRUST Act. SAN DIEGO — California Gov. Jerry Brown is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with a Mexican hat dance. The Democrat signed one bill that will probably wind up helping a small number of people and, with regard to another bill, issued a veto that will likely hurt many more.
California Gov. Jerry Brown participating at a celebration of Yom Kippur in the Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012. The bill that Brown signed gives driver’s licenses to young illegal immigrants, i.e., DREAMers, who are given deferred action by the Obama administration. Meanwhile, the bill that Brown vetoed—known as the TRUST Act—impacted thousands of lives. Currently, a nanny who is undocumented but has no criminal record can be pulled over for a busted taillight and get arrested, fingerprinted and handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation. Brown wouldn’t go along. First Legal Challenge to Bush-Obama Anti-Immigrant Program - AllGov - News - Top Stories. A growing number of United States citizens have been wrongfully detained under a government program intended to detect undocumented immigrants who are arrested by local police–and now one of them is fighting back.
Chicago-area resident James Makowski, who was adopted from India as an infant and became a naturalized U.S. citizen at the age of 1, was arrested on July 7, 2010, and incarcerated at the maximum-security federal prison in Pontiac, Illinois, for two months before immigration officials acknowledged his citizenship and ordered him released. With the help of the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago, Makowski, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, has filed sued against the government, alleging that the program violated the Privacy Act of 1974. He is seeking damages for wrongful imprisonment, lost wages, attorney fees and costs, and emotional pain and suffering.
At issue is the Secure Communities program, initiated by the George W. -Matt Bewig To Learn More: Profiling Our Families Is Unacceptable. “The LGBT community has suffered a long history of being targeted by law enforcement simply because of who we are. Similarly, immigrants of all backgrounds have suffered, and continue to suffer, profiling under the laws of many states. Law enforcement should never rely on a person’s race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, or perceived LGBT identity.”
Immigration Equality Executive Director, Rachel B. Tiven, Testimony Submitted to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, April 12 2012 In our fight for LGBT immigrant individuals and families, Immigration Equality has repeatedly encountered the profiling of our clients by law enforcement. From Secure Communities to Stop and Frisk, discriminatory laws affect the health and well-being of our families, posing a threat to their safety that is unacceptable.
In April of this year Immigration Equality’s Executive Director, Rachel B. The Secure Communities Program in Minnesota | Asian American Press | AAPress.com. Immigration Law & You By R. Mark FreyAAP Columnist R. Mark Frey On February 7, 2012, the Department of Homeland Security’s Secure Communities program was implemented in the state of Minnesota. Today, approximately 94 percent of all U.S. jurisdictions have joined the program that was established to prioritize resources for removal of certain immigrants by U.S. The Secure Communities program is concerned with cases involving public safety and national security, the integrity of the immigration system, and border security.
According to ICE, the Secure Communities program is a “simple and common sense way to carry out ICE’s priorities.” For quite some time, state and local law enforcement officials have shared the fingerprints of those individuals arrested or booked into custody with the FBI. According to ICE, the benefits of the Secure Communities program are many. ICE has also come under criticism for failing to provide clear procedures for filing civil rights complaints. R. From Fingerprints to DNA: Biometric Data Collection in U.S. Immigrant Communities and Beyond. Divisive Secure Communities measure rolls out in Vt. Tuesday. (NECN: Jack Thurston, Burlington, Vt.) - A top federal law enforcement official confirmed for New England Cable News Monday that the Vermont rollout of the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security's information-sharing program known as Secure Communities will happen Tuesday. It is already operational in most of the country, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, official told NECN. At the Burlington, Vt. offices of the advocacy group Migrant Justice, Danilo Lopez worried about the measure's implementation. "Many more people will be deported because of this program," Lopez predicted. ICE insists Secure Communities will be a helpful tool to share fingerprint records between the FBI and Homeland Security, targeting threats to public safety from people who are in this country unlawfully.
A fingerprint gathered during an investigation of a minor crime may reveal a more serious history of offenses, the ICE official said. "We need a major change in immigration laws," Sen. Serrano Speaks Out Against Secure Communities Expansion | U.S. Congressman José E. Serrano ~ Representing the people of the 16th District of New York. The Bronx, NY – May 14, 2012 – Congressman José E.
Serrano today issued the following statement on the expansion of the so-called “Secure Communities” deportation program to the entire state of New York, despite the efforts of Serrano, Governor Andrew Cuomo and other leaders to withdraw New York from the controversial program. “As we see ‘Secure Communities’ expand to the whole state of New York against our citizens’ and elected official wishes, we continue to call for an immediate suspension of this flawed deportation program.
Time and again we see this program splitting up families, deporting immigrants for minor offenses, and generally making our communities less secure. It is increasingly clear that the program is targeting all immigrants, rather than just those involved with violent crimes. It is a dragnet and causes real suffering. It must be ended. “It was not long ago that I was speaking out in support of Governor Cuomo’s decision to try to withdraw New York from this program.
Maine will soon join federal program to fight illegal immigration | Local News. PORTLAND, Maine —Maine will be the last state in the country to join a new program designed to help the federal government identify illegal immigrants. The Secure Communities program will take effect in late May. Once the program is in place, the fingerprints of anyone who has been arrested in Maine will also be shared with the Department of Homeland Security. Officials say the prints will be a tool to help them identify, detain and deport criminal illegal immigrants. The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine is critical of the program. Members are afraid Secure Communities could lead to racial profiling and mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. "How do we know they're not stopping someone to check their immigration status as opposed to going after crime?
" said Joh Gaither, Education Coordinator for the ACLU of Maine. The program has generated controversy and sparked protests in other cities across the country but is virtually unknown in Maine. Amherst Town Meeting to vote on Secure Communities resolution, creating historical district near Emily Dickinson museum. AMHERST – Town meeting resumes Monday night for the seventh and likely the final session of the 254th Annual Town Meeting. Voters have three remaining articles to consider - creating a local historic district and two petitioned articles. One of those petitioned articles was initially proposed as a bylaw but has been scaled back to a resolution, a compromise that proponents and town officials support.
This article initially asked voters to amend town bylaws to address the Secure Communities program, where fingerprints taken from a criminal are turned over to the FBI, who shares them with the Department of Homeland Security. ⨠The bylaw instructed the FBI to "immediately cease the dissemination to other agencies. " ⨠But town officials sought an opinion from Town Counsel Joel Bard, who disagreed the town can enact such a law. “The board was not comfortable with it as a bylaw," Town Manager John P. Secure Communities program begins in Mass. Eurasia Review. By COHA By Ekow Bartels-Kodwo On Friday June 15, U.S. President Barack Obama announced plans to halt the deportation of immigrants who meet certain requirements. This executive decision legitimizes plans that the president announced while running for office, but was unable to pass through Congress.
This action will affect approximately 800,000 immigrants, who arrived in the United States before they turned 16 and have been here for over five years. The criteria also specifies that they must have either graduated from high school or served in the U.S. military, not have a criminal record, and be under age 30. Not all those who meet the criteria will choose to come forward, since the order is not guaranteed to last past the Obama administration. While the executive order may in fact be characterized as an overreach of presidential power, it enjoys overwhelming support by Latinos, who are sure to be a key demographic in the fall election. To view citations, click here. About the author: COHA. Disappointingly Little Changes After ICE Review of Secure Communities, Say Advocates. A tweak to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Secure Communities program, also known as S-Comm, would allow the agency to withhold placing undocumented immigrants stopped by local law enforcement for traffic violations into deportation proceedings until "conviction for the minor criminal traffic offense.
" But the change, introduced following a task force report that recommended changes to S-Comm, still means that undocumented immigrants are at risk for being deported for missing a traffic light or speeding. So what has really changed in the policy? Disappointingly little, say advocates. "The ICE announcement was a real disappointment," said Fred Tsao, policy director with the Illinois Coalition for Immigration and Refugee Rights (ICIRR). "This is a program is in dire need of being fixed and what we ended up getting was a very, very minor change that may affect some cases but falls far short of the real reforms that the program needs. " Other advocates agree: Feds take arrest data of immigrants. Scott Olson/Getty Images Immigration and Customs Enforcement will begin using fingerprints from NYPD arrests next week to round up illegal immigrants. The program is already running in Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties. Over objections from Gov.
Cuomo and city officials, the feds will begin using fingerprints from NYPD arrests next week to round up illegal immigrants, the Daily News has learned. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials told the NYPD and other local police departments in New York that the controversial Secure Communities program will be activated Tuesday across the state. The program is already running — feeding fingerprint information from local police to Homeland Security through the FBI — in Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties. Last June, Cuomo unsuccessfully tried to pull New York from the program, which the feds initially characterized as voluntary. Homeland Security officials now say it is mandatory. “We are monitoring the situation,” said Azzopardi. ICE arrests 80 illegal immigrants in Georgia, Carolinas New Hampshire Participation In Secure Communities Takes Many By Surprise. The Department of Homeland Security is moving ahead with plans to institute the controversial Secure Communities program in the state of New Hampshire.
But the news has come as a surprise to many -- including the state's Attorney General, Michael Delaney. "I can't confirm anything about the program in New Hampshire right now," Delaney told The Eagle Tribune on Wednesday. "[Immigration and Customs Enforcement] did not give me or anyone at my office any notification about the program. " Various local sheriffs and police chiefs had also not gotten word of the program's implementation in their state, according to The Eagle Tribute. The controversial federal program, piloted by the Bush administration and implemented by the Obama Administration, is meant to crack down on undocumented immigrants living in the state by mandating that local authorities share fingerprints of those who have been arrested by local police with ICE.
"It's the federal government's decision," he said. Loading Slideshow. GUTIERREZ: OBAMA 'SECURE COMMUNITIES' AND DEPORTATION POLICIES HEADED IN THE WRONG DIRECTION. Immigration I am proud to serve as the Chairman of the Immigration Task Force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. I also serve on the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration and as the Chair of the Immigration Task Force of the Democratic Caucus. Financial Services I have worked to restore economic stability, help homeowners facing foreclosure, protect consumers, protect taxpayers, and strengthen regulations for the financial institutions whose risky behavior contributed to the economic collapse in 2008.
Intelligence and Military I have made it a priority to ensure that the civil rights and civil liberties of all Americans are upheld as we work to protect our nation from threats. Secure Communities and the federal deportation program. Here in the Bay Area, we’ve seen the immigration debate manifest itself mostly in a controversy over the federal immigration program Secure Communities. The program requires local jails to share fingerprints of everyone they arrest with immigration enforcement officials. KALW’s Rina Palta sat down with the California Immigrant Policy Center's Jon Rodney to talk about how things are going. JON RODNEY: So the so-called Secure Communities program, which we prefer to call S-COM – because really it doesn’t make anyone any safer – is a federal deportation program. It’s tremendously controversial, and it is undermining public safety. The program operates through the sending of fingerprints.
RINA PALTA: Originally, there was a big debate over whether this program was voluntary or involuntary, whether localities had to participate if they didn’t want to, especially places that are sanctuaries like San Francisco, for instance. RODNEY: So I think there are two pieces to that. Don't Turn Local Officials into Federal Agents - ACLU of Washington. Jenny Yang & Matthew Soerens :: What is the Secure Communities program? - Redux.
We Need To Fund 287g | Bluffton Today. S-Comm "Reforms" are Designed to Fail. Obama's Catch-and-Release Policies Blunt Secure Communities. Democrats are campaigning to never fulfill the duties of office - Houston Political Buzz. NYC Forced Back Into Creepy Federal Immigration Tracking Program. ESCONDIDO: ICE-police partnership nets over 800 arrests in two years : Escondido. In Texas, Sheriff Takes Heat for Honoring Immigration Detainers. ICE expands fingerprinting program.
"Secure Communities" Undermines Us All. Rights Working Group Condemn Secure Communities Program Reforms as Insignificant | Rights Working Group. Will Secure Communities make NYC the next Arizona for immigrants? CCR Condemns Activation of Secure Communities in New York City. US to extend fingerprint programme for Caribbean nationals. ACLU Director: 'This isn't going to keep us safer' Activists Protest Resumption of Controversial Immigration Policy in New York.
Nationwide Rallys Over Controversial Secure Communities Program. Opposing ICE Secure Communities Mass Detention & Deportation Program in MA. Deportation Machine Being Forced In New York » New York State Youth Leadership Council. Colorado Mother, Threatened with Deportation, Released Home in Time for Mothers’ Day — Immigration Reform. Daily Headlines: May 15, 2012. Obama forces S-COMM down the throat of New York & Massachusetts | DreamActivist.
Amnesty Urges Halt in Immigration Enforcement; Calls for I.G. Inspection.