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THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW - December 16, 2010
US Judge Chastises US Government on Immigration Policing
Lawsuit
by: William Fisher
Inter Press Service-Report
New York - Nearly a year after advocacy groups sought
documents to clarify the Department of Homeland Security's
"Secure Communities" programme, the government has largely
failed to satisfy the requests for information, a federal
judge has ruled.
"I think the government is dragging its feet," Judge Shira
A. Scheindlin declared last week.
As the government has delayed, the programme has dramat-
ically expanded, prompting growing controversy about the
secrecy and mixed signals sent by Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) and chain of command with the Department
of Homeland Security (DHS), of which ICE is part.
The principal issue is whether local law enforcement can
opt out of the programme. ICE and other DHS officials have
alternated between "yes" and "no", sowing confusion among
some police departments, and entire states and counties.
To find an answer, the National Day Laborer Organizing
Network (NDLON), represented by the Center for Constitut-
ional Rights and the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration
Justice Clinic of Cardozo Law school, filed a freedom of
information act request for files relating to the rapidly
expanding deportation programme that culls fingerprints
from local law enforcement databases.
After the agency refused to hand over the documents, the
groups took ICE to court.
Sunita Patel, a staff attorney with the Center for
Constitutional Rights, told IPS, "As advocates across the
country are pushing on the state and local levels to find
a way to opt out of Secure Communities, we are going to
court to obtain information that the public and advocates
need to determine how and if it's possible to opt out.
Only the government has the information everyone needs."
Judge Scheindlin set Jan. 17, 2011 as the new date for ICE
to release the documents or explain why they must be with-
held. She also set Feb. 25 as the deadline for ICE to
release a second set of documents related to other topics
in the records request.
The judge noted several times that if the defendants fail
to produce documents in the two upcoming hearings they
will face possible contempt sanctions.
Secure Communities is a programme that allows state and
local police to check the fingerprints of an individual
they are booking into a jail against DHS immigration
databases.
If there is a "hit", ICE is automatically notified, even
if the person has not been convicted of any criminal act.
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Advocates and community leaders across the country have
called this programme "dangerous" and say it strains local
law enforcement and resources while damaging already the
already tenuous relationship between immigrant communities
and the police.
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today.
"To keep our families together, we need to keep police
and ICE separate. The Orwellian-named Secure Communities
programme does the opposite of making us safer," said
Sarahí Uribe of NDLON. "We see innocent people swept up
in a massive dragnet sending a chilling effect through
migrant communities."
Municipalities such as San Francisco and Santa Clara in
California and Arlington, Virginia have voted to opt out
and numerous others localities are deliberating their
participation.
Advocacy groups say immigration authorities in charge of
the programme have been "inconsistent and dishonest in
representing the relationship between local governments
and the federal programme".
In an email to New York Governor David Patterson, the
agency said "[W]e get it. No one will be forced." In a
press conference two months later, ICE said, "[The agency]
does not see this as an opt-in opt-out programme."
Secure Communities is one of several ICE programmes that
rely on continuing cooperation from local law enforcement
authorities. In the 287(g) programme, for example, local
police and sheriffs have been recruited to help federal
immigration authorities by arresting and detaining persons
suspected of having committed immigration crimes.
While many local law enforcement authorities have become
part of the programme, many others have refused to
participate.
They say Secure Communities can lead to racial profiling.
They also contend that enforcing federal immigration law
is the job of the federal government; that local peace
officers don't have the training and experience to enforce
complex immigration law; and that existing police manpower
is needed for community policing.
In addition, it has been revealed that many of those who
have been deported by the Barack Obama administration
have committed only minor infractions such as broken
taillights and driving without a license. ICE's programmes
are supposedly geared toward deporting dangerous criminal
aliens.
With 13 states yet to join the programme, New York and
numerous other activated jurisdictions still trying to
opt out, and with its current spokespeople unwilling to
set the record straight, advocates are asking a judge
to counteract the misinformation by opening the files
related to the "opt-out" policies immediately.
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