Accused of a crime in Massachusetts? DHS wants your fingerprints.
Law enforcement brass are cheering a new federal order that Massachusetts must implement the illegal-alien crackdown effort known as Secure Communities by next week.
Federal officials said the activation of Secure Communities doesn't change a local jurisdiction's existing law enforcement or fingerprinting policies or practices. The only new development is that once the FBI receives the fingerprints, they will send them to the Department of Homeland Security.
The Secure Communities program is part of a much larger biometric information collection program which is going on nation-wide, centralizing data in the hands of federal agencies.
The fingerprints will be compared to biometric information in the department's immigration databases. When there is a match, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent will determine whether immigration enforcement action would be appropriate.
“It’s great news, for law enforcement and citizens,” said Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, an ardent supporter of the federal program, which requires police to check the fingerprints of people they arrest against FBI and immigration databases.
The Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, or MIRA, says the program is unnecessary because police already check all fingerprints they collect with the FBI. Police can also run an immigration check on anyone they fingerprint.
MIRA says making that process automatic will make immigrants mistrust the police, encourage officers to engage in racial profiling and continue the erosion of civil liberties.
The unexpected federal mandate comes despite Gov. Deval Patrick’s long-running criticism of the program, which he has said promotes racial profiling and has been used to target lower-level offenders.
Patrick wasn’t available to comment on the news last night, but his public safety secretary Mary Beth Heffernan said in a statement that implementation of the program “will have no practical effect on how we handle fingerprints and information sharing here.
“We already send all fingerprints to the federal government, and have been doing so for years,” she added.
"I'm persuaded that here in the commonwealth, we will give up more than we get," Governor Deval Patrick said at the time. "We run a serious risk of ethnic profiling and frankly fracturing incredibly important relationships in communities that are necessary for law enforcement."
To the surprise of many, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Massachusetts sheriffs and police leaders via email yesterday that the Secure Communities would go into effect statewide May 15.
ICE said the program, which was enacted in New Hampshire yesterday, “promotes public safety, border security and the integrity of the immigration system” by allowing its agents to put a “high priority on the removal of aliens convicted of crimes, recent illegal border crossers, immigration fugitives and repeat immigration law violators.”
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20220509feds_mandate_secure_communities_in_mass/
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/05/feds_to_launch_secure_communit.html
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20120510groups_protest_secure_communities_program_in_mass/
http://endthelie.com/2012/05/11/ice-ignores-ma-governors-objections-implements-secure-communities-program/#axzz1uNE2ZIwn
Secure Communities program to begin in NY.
A law-enforcement official familiar with the program, called Secure Communities, confirmed that New York City and 30 other jurisdictions would join the 31 communities that already have the program in place. Suffolk, Nassau and Westchester counties, among others, have participated in Secure Communities for more than a year.
Asked about the program at a Friday news conference, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said "we prefer that they not do that here."
"The federal government's position is that it's required under the law and they're doing it," he continued. "We're obviously complying. They're taking it automatically, actually. It's a policy decision. I think there's merit on both sides….We're complying to the extent that we have to."
Secure Communities aims at identifying and deporting illegal immigrants who are convicted of crimes. But critics say it has resulted in the deportation of thousands of people who are accused of crimes but not convicted, and erodes the trust between immigrant communities and law enforcement.
The agency describes Secure Communities as an information-sharing program between ICE and the FBI—rather than with local law enforcement—and therefore the federal government makes the decision on when and where to active it.
As of May 11, the program is active in 2,792 jurisdictions in 48 states and Puerto Rico. ICE expects to be nationwide by the end of 2013. Forty states have it statewide, including Connecticut and New Jersey. On Tuesday, Massachusetts, Wyoming and Arkansas will join New York with statewide rollouts.
Speaking on the radio Friday, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said there will be a rally on City Hall's steps on Monday to urge the federal government to refrain from forcing the city's hand.
She also said the police were being put in a "terrible position."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304070304577398523913714462.html?mod=googlenews_wsj