Deportation Nation | Internal Docs Reveal California’s Frustration With Secure Communities Expansion
There’s a new post up on Deportation Nation I wrote regarding documents that were released last week:
Documents released by advocates last week confirm local frustration with the federal government’s fast-track expansion of the Secure Communities program – this time in California.
Many of the 500 documents released via litigation include email correspondence between officials with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) that document its public relations campaign to implement the program in resistant counties such as San Francisco.
DHS Budget Funds Oversight for Secure Communities?
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced new plans on Thursday to develop an oversight process and to train local police who participate in the Secure Communities program during a 2012 budget request hearing for the department.
In light of the new oversight, Secure Communities is already in more than 1,000 jurisdictions in 38 states.
“ICE will work with DHS’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Department of Justice to develop a robust oversight and evaluation process of Secure Communities and to provide training to state and local law enforcement,” Napolitano testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
The budget request also increases funding for the program. Click to read more.
Deportation Nation Interviews NDLON about S-Comm Docs
Deportation Nation interviewed Sarahi Uribe of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) about newly released documents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. The documents revealed internal discussions about whether participation the Secure Communities program was mandatory. Click here to listen to the audio interview.
Secure Communities Enrollment Up to 1,030 Counties
I created this map graphic for Deportation Nation and the Center for Constitutional Rights. It’s the most current deployment map by state enrollment in the Secure Communities program. As of Feb. 15, Colorado activated the program in three counties. Alabama, Indiana, and Rhode Island have signed agreements but no counties have been activated yet in those states. New Mexico is now fully enrolled in the program, activating the program in Santa Fe. Also, New York has activated the program in six more counties, for a total of eight: Dutchess, Genesee, Nassau, Orleans, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster.
To find out if your county is enrolled in the Secure Communities program, click here to check out our list on the Deportation Nation site.
New Report Criticizes 287(g) Program, Warns about Oversight Problems with Secure Communities
I wrote a short piece about a new MPI report that focuses on the 287(g) program but has implications for the Secure Communities program:
If steps aren’t taken to monitor local police not trained in immigration enforcement, the federal immigration agency’s Secure Communities program could invite racial profiling and pretexual arrests on a larger scale – more so than the highly controversial 287(g) program, warns a new report from the Migration Policy Institute.
“Unless ICE takes steps to ensure that it is a targeted program, Secure Communities may replicate many of the controversies and negative community community impacts we observed in universal enforcement 287(g) jurisdictions,” authors said.
Immigrant Advocates Push Rhode Island to Refuse “Secure Communities”
There’s a new post on Deportation Nation regarding Rhode Island Governor’s decision to withdraw from the 287(g) program and what this could mean for the Secure Communities program.
Timeline of Immigrant Criminalization
We launched an interactive timeline on DeportationNation.org that looks at how the U.S. immigration system came to focus on enforcement. It includes photos, documents, useful links, and exclusive video interviews with legal historian and author Daniel Kanstroom and immigration expert Don Kerwin of the Migration Policy Institute.
Videos were shot on the Canon 5D Mark II and 7D. The timeline was created using Dipity.com.
Click here to experience the timeline in full wide view and watch videos.
