03/05/12 In a time enforcement programs like Secure Communities are splitting apart families, and anti-immigrant legislation -- like HB 56 and SB 1070 -- are assisting in the GOP strategy of "self-deportation", Baltimore City's Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is heeding fair warnings and going down a different path.
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12/01/11 Over the past several months, the controversy around DHS' Secure Communities deportation program has grown exponentially as advocates for immigrants and victims of crime, state governors and law enforcement professionals, and even a DHS-appointed task force arrived at a serious conclusion...
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09/16/11 The DHS Task Force on Homeland Security issued its report this week, showing a deeply flawed program. Arturo Venegas resigned from the Task Force, noting, "I believe that Secure Communities is a deeply flawed program and that, in its current form, it is undermining public safety."
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08/29/11 After a long, hot summer of protests and lawsuits, Alabama's tough new immigration law is scheduled to begin taking effect this week.
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08/24/11 Local and national immigration experts spoke on a call with reporters to relate stories and highlight concerns that Secure Communities and other police-immigration collaboration efforts are destroying the relationship between police and immigrants and making communities across the country less safe.
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08/23/11 His name is Antonio Diaz Chacon, he's a New Mexico resident, he is 23, he is a hero, and he is undocumented. Before last week Monday, Diaz had not known the feeling of being a hero of a small town. That was until a 6-year-old girl in Albuquerque was abducted as she walked home on a suburban street.
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08/08/11 On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security unilaterally cancelled its Memorandum of Agreements (MOA) on Secure Communities (S-COMM), an immigration enforcement program of the Obama administration that was sold to state governments as a way to identify and deport serious criminals.
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08/05/11 Remember when we reported that DHS was in cahoots with the FBI re: the Secure Communities (S-Comm) Program, and how S-Comm was a stepping stone for a more invasive program that the FBI is calling their "Next Generation Initiative?"
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06/10/11 Massachusetts State Representative Ryan Fattman thinks that if you're an undocumented victim of a crime, you better be afraid to come forward – even if you're an undocumented victim of rape.
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06/07/11 Yesterday, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (D-MA) announced that his state will not participate in the federal government's failed "Secure Communities" deportation program.
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06/02/11 New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced yesterday that he is suspending his state's participation in the ineffective Secure Communities deportation program based on concerns over its impact on community policing and public safety.
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06/01/11 Today, Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) announced that New York will "suspend" its participation in the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) controversial Secure Communities program
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05/03/11 Michael Hennessey, San Francisco's sheriff, has a captivating (and compassionate) piece in the San Francisco Chronicle today, making the case against a much-loved GOP immigration enforcement strategy better know as the Secure Communities Program.
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04/29/11 Rep. Zoe Lofgren called for an investigation into federal immigration practices, noting that ICE and DHS has forced local police departments into participating in the Secure Communities Program -- an ICE-agency program designed to identify undocumented immigrants, prioritize them based on what kind of crime they've committed (if any), and process them for deportation.
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04/04/11 Last Friday at an event sponsored by NDN, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano made an outrageous comment in defense of the controversial Secure Communities program (you can watch her address here). When challenged to explain why a program targeting serious criminal offenders is sweeping up so many non-criminal immigrants, Napolitano responded: It looks like there was no crime committed, but when you go in and look at the arrest plot, why were they getting fingerprinted to begin with? There was a crime there.
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03/24/11 The Washington Post's editorial praising the Secure Communities program ("How to improve an immigration status check," March 20th) glossed over some very important details. If the program was targeted at actual criminals, it wouldn't be so controversial and police agencies wouldn't be asking to opt-out.
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03/07/11 There is growing concern that the federal 287(g) and "Secure Communities" programs, which puts local law enforcement officers on the front lines of enforcing federal immigration laws, are actually making communities less secure.
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06/03/10 The nation's top cops say that making them check the residency status of suspects will set back years of trust-building in communities of color.
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05/26/10 Ten police chiefs from cities across the country, including three from Arizona, traveled to Washington, DC today to meet with Attorney General Eric Holder and reiterate what they've been saying for weeks: Arizona's new immigration enforcement law will make their jobs harder, erode working relationships built on mutual trust and cooperation between law enforcement and immigrants, and make communities less safe. The federal government should step in to prevent more states from following suit.
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05/04/10 From local Arizona cops to top police chiefs, with expertise in community policing, law enforcement is taking a firm stand against Arizona's controversial new immigration law, SB 1070. Over the weekend, Chief Art Acevedo of Austin, TX wrote an op-ed in the Austin American-Statesman warning that Governor Jan Brewer and the Arizona legislators who signed the law "declared open season for criminals to target immigrants" and "killed community policing in the state." Chief Acevedo says Arizona's own history with crime shows why the new law is dangerous.
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05/03/10 Arizona has taken center stage in the debate about how to fix our badly broken immigration system. What people may not realize is that police associations and top cops around the country and across the state oppose the new law SB1070. In fact, the first lawsuit against SB1070 was filed last week by a 15-year veteran of the Tucson police force.
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04/26/10 Phoenix Mayor, Phil Gordon, and Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, are condemning Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's move on Friday to sign the controversial SB 1070 into law. Gordon's primary focus is on the adverse implications this bill will have on community safety. By diverting police attention from capturing dangerous criminals to rounding up immigrants (and Latinos who leave their wallets at home), this bill has the alarming ability to alienate a population that would otherwise be helpful in reporting and reducing real crime.
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02/26/10 Chief Lisa Womack of Elgin, IL; Sheriff Richard Wiles of El Paso, TX; and Chief Sam Granato of Yakima, WA, participated in a telephonic press conference yesterday sponsored by the Law Enforcement Engagement Initiative (LEEI). They called on President Obama and Congress to (in Chief Granato's words) "step up to the plate" on reform. Meanwhile, Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran told the Chicago Tribune that he supports comprehensive immigration reform, calling it "morally the right thing to do."
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01/14/10 As the immigration debate heats up this year, America's Voice today releases a special report, "Immigration Reform: Know the Players," providing an indispensable reference for anyone following the issue of immigration reform. The series, which was originally published in Spanish on MaribelHastings.com in eight thematic installments, provides background information, statistics, and other detailed information on the roles played in the urgent battle for reform by the following groups of supporters: law enforcement; undocumented students; anti-immigrant groups; the pro-immigrant movement; faith communities; farmers and agricultural laborers; business and labor interests; and, of course, the main actors: the White House, Senate and House of Representatives.
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11/06/09 When people talk in the abstract about undocumented immigrants - or, as some call them disdainfully, "illegals" - they don't think about the fact that these "invisible people" are in fact present every minute of every day. The food we bring to our mouths has been picked or processed by their hands. They serve or cook our meals in restaurants, take care of our children, clean the offices where we work, or own businesses we patronize. They are our neighbors, friends, relatives…the list goes on.
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10/27/09 Yesterday, in "Warning: Talking Sanely about Immigration May Be Hazardous," we reported on Sacramento's Police Chief Rick Braziel, and his measured, rational approach to immigration and community policing. Today, we are happy to highlight another key voice on this issue. Outgoing LAPD Police Chief William J. Bratton is a member of the rapidly-growing network of police chiefs across the nation calling for a serious immigration overhaul.
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