Worcester Immigrants Say No to "S-Comm"

"We blew it," said John Grossman on Saturday afternoon to a Worcester meeting room packed with 150 to 200 immigrants. "And I’m here to apologize."

As undersecretary for the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, Grossman was referring to the collective failure of the Patrick administration to consult with the state's immigrant community before signing onto a controversial new immigration enforcement program, Secure Communities. The Worcester meeting, held at the city’s public library and hosted by The African Council, was the first of ten gatherings across the state at which Patrick’s representatives will work to rectify that wrong. Grossman promised that community questions and concerns would all be considered, and then "the governor is going to make a decision [about signing onto Secure Communities] sometime over the summer."

Judging from the passion of the questions and concerns aired in the two-hour meeting, the governor will be making that decision having heard that immigrants across Massachusetts oppose Secure Communities loud and clear. Slated for national implementation by 2013, the federal program reports the fingerprints of all persons arrested by local police to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which then may ask local police to hold the immigrant until deportation proceedings can begin. ICE's stated intention is to catch and deport serious criminal offenders, but studies have shown that non-criminals are often ensnared in the program's huge net. Secure Communities has operated in Boston as a pilot program since 2006. According to statistics going back to November 2008, 53 percent of those deported through Boston’s operations have NOT been criminal offenders. The primary effect of the program, instead, has been to turn local police into de facto immigration officials.

Speaking on a two-person panel, undersecretary Grossman enumerating the most common concerns about Secure Communities -- concerns that the community reiterated throughout the afternoon. First, it breaks the bond of trust built between immigrant communities and local police, potentially making our towns and cities more insecure for everyone. Second, it could encourage zealous police officers to target those they suspect of being undocumented, therefore raising the ugly specter of racial profiling. Third, Secure Communities contradicts President Obama’s claim to support just and humane immigration reform. As the president well knows, the vast majority of undocumented immigrants are otherwise law-abiding workers and family members. Given this country's antiquated and thoroughly dysfunctional immigration system, deportation is a punishment that far exceeds these immigrants’ violations, with reverberations that can decimate families and local communities as well.

The second panelist, MIRA Executive Director Eva Millona, elaborated on the program's problems in her portion of the presentation, offering charts showing the preponderance of non-criminal and low-level offenders actually deported in Boston and other municipalities. Millona also stressed the lack of transparency and complaint mechanisms in the system.

After the panel presentations, the audience stepped forward with questions and comments for the remainder of the two-hour meeting. In addition to numerous immigrants who spoke of their fears and concerns for loved ones, the commentators included a local Episcopalian Minister, a Worcester immigration lawyer, at least one domestic violence councilor, and a representative for Worcester Mayor Joseph O’Brien, who read a public letter asking Governor Patrick to reject the program. Most of the speakers addressed the governor’s delegation in English, though translators were on hand for those speaking Spanish and Portuguese.

Undersecretary Grossman stressed that legal confusion reigns about the governor’s obligation to sign onto the program, and he noted that it didn't need the administration’s approval to go forward. Grossman also offered some defense of the program itself, noting that the Ecuadoran mother and child recently killed in Brockton could possibly have been saved by Secure Communities. But others noted that mechanisms are already in place to catch dangerous criminals with immigration violations, and that Governor Patrick should listen to the concerns of the vast majority of law-abiding immigrants, just as he did during the hearings for the New Americans Agenda (NAA).

“Two years ago, through the NAA Executive Order, the governor showed leadership in the nation,” said Dolores Thibault-Muñoz, director of the Cleghorn Neighborhood Center, an organization that participated in the NAA hearings. “I ask the governor, instead of signing on to the Secure Communities program, that he implement the 131 recommendations he committed to in the NAA. If he signs onto Secure Communities instead, it’s like taking 131 steps backward.”

Many reasons not to implement Immigration program: "Secure Communities"

Currently, when the police arrests a suspect, their fingerprints are sent to the FBI, which checks a criminal database to verify identity and see if they are wanted in other places. Under “Secure Communities”, the FBI will run fingerprints against an immigration database. If there is no match for an existing record, fingerprints are added to the immigration database (no matter what the immigration status is of the person arrested). If there is a match, the FBI sends information to ICE to check status. ICE then sends information to the police and ICE's local Enforcement and Removal Office, who then determines to hold the individual until ICE can take custody. All of this can happen before formal charges are filed.

Secure Communities often ensnares hard-working immigrants guilty of no crime:

• "Secure Communities” has not done what it is supposed to do – go after dangerous criminals. 75 % of those deported under this program have NOT been dangerous criminals.
• In Boston, over half of the deportees – 53% -- have not even been accused of any criminal offense whatsoever.
• By clogging up the system with low-level or civil cases, “Secure Communities” takes ICE’s resources from actually pursuing real criminals.

“Secure Communities” breeds distrust between police and the community, decreasing safety for everyone:

• Community members are already expressing alarm and are fearful to have any interaction with police.
• The program COULD encourage racial profiling. Police would know that everyone they arrest would get an immigration check. We have already heard cases of racial profiling in the Western & Central Mass.
• Victims of domestic violence are often accused by their abuser and subsequently arrested, making them prime targets for deportation through“Secure Communities”. The program may even discourage women from reporting life-threatening conditions.

The mechanism of “Secure Communities” is seriously flawed:

• There is no way to appeal for people who believe they have been wrongly identified in ICE’s database.
• There is no program oversight, to be sure that any of the abuses, such as racial profiling, are not taking place.
• The governor rightly said before that we need much more data about the program before spreading it widely. We still do not have that data.

Massachusetts already has an effective system for identifying and deporting criminals.

• MA already has a 287 g accord with the house of corrections, so criminals who are actually convicted already go through the deportation process after serving their time.
• This system could potentially tie up bed space in local jails, where people are held before transfer to ICE.

The governor’s rationale for signing on now doesn’t make sense.

• The Governor claims that he is legally required to sign-on to Secure Communities. This is false — there is no legal requirement to sign-on. ICE plans to make Secure Communities national by 2013, but they will do so regardless of whether a jurisdiction wants it or not.
• The Governor is claiming that he is signing on to Secure Communities in order to "have a seat at the table". There is no table. In prior discussions between state officials and ICE, ICE has said that there is no flexibility and that they are not willing to put any limitations on their enforcement authority.

ICE’s claim that this program focuses its efforts on “Dangerous Offenders” is dubious for three reasons:

• There is no reason to believe that ICE resources are that limited.
• ICE resources expand every year, so even if this claim is true now, it won't be true in the near future.
• The majority of dangerous offenders are serving time in prison. ICE resources won't be used on them until their prison terms are up, leaving resources free to go after other immigrants.

This is a problematic program that will not properly secure our communities!

Stand for Public Safety

The Patrick Administration abruptly reversed course last week and announced it would sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), entering the state into the controversial "Secure Communities" program. (See previous post for details)

Law enforcement enrolled in the program automatically runs fingerprints of all arrested persons against an ICE database.In practice, however, the program has had numerous problems. Nationally, almost 80% of those deported have not been dangerous criminals, and in Boston, over half of those deported have not been guilty of any crime (immigration violations are generally a civil, not a criminal, offense).The program is also criticized by immigrant and civil rights advocates for potentially increasing racial profiling, and for decreasing levels of trust between law enforcement and immigrant communities

CALL Governor Patrick NOW at 617-725-4005 and tell him that you disapprove his agreement with ICE and not to implement this racial bias program in our state!

Sample Script:

My name is ­­­­­­­­_____________ and I live in the city/town of ___________. I am calling Governor Patrick to say that I disapprove his intention to sign the Secure Communities agreement with ICE, when it's NOT mandatory. The Governor should cancel his decision that will increase racial profiling and decrease trust between law enforcement and immigrant communities. Thank you!

Join Centro Presente and advocates TOMORROW in denouncing Massachusetts' intention to sign on to 'Secure Communities'

When: Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010 at 11:00 AM
Where: In front of Massachusetts State House

Gov. Patrick to sign "Secure Communities" agreement

Immigrant and Refugee Community Oppose Patrick's"Secure Communities" Accord
Agreement called premature and potentially dangerous

BOSTON -- The Patrick Administration abruptly reversed course today and announced it would sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE), entering the state into the controversial "Secure Communities" program. Law enforcement enrolled in the program automatically runs fingerprints of all arrested persons against an ICE database. The federal government's intention is to flag and detain those with immigration violations, thus improving the apprehension and deportation of dangerous criminals, or "Level 1" offenders. In practice, however, the program has had numerous problems. Nationally, almost 80% of those deported have not been "Level 1" violators, and in Boston, over half of those deported have not been guilty of any criminal behavior whatsoever (immigration violations are generally a civil, not a criminal, offense). The program is also criticized by immigrant and civil rights advocates for potentially increasing instances of racial profiling, and for decreasing levels of trust between law enforcement and immigrant communities.

Governor Deval Patrick had previously named these and other systematic concerns as issues needing further scrutiny before the state entered into any formal "Secure Communities" accord. Nationally, the program has been slowed in jurisdictions that expressed similar misgivings, which has called into question the ability ICE to appropriately implement "Secure Communities" nationwide by 2013.

"Governor Patrick has previously shown great sensitivity to the concerns expressed by the state's immigrant and refugee communities," said Eva Millona, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. "That is why we were shocked and deeply disappointed that he would reverse course without any apparent need. We continue to believe that the state should hold off from signing any "Secure Communities" accord until the program is fully scrutinized and its serious flaws addressed. We can only conclude that the governor is receiving faulty legal advice, and we urge him and his advisers to reconsider this unnecessary and potentially dangerous decision at this time."

Press Contact: Franklin Soults, Communications Director 617-350-5480 ext. 204, 216-849-2271, fsoults@miracoalition.org

The charts below, compiled by ACLU, show ICE data of Secure Communities program implemented in Boston. Even though ICE claims that the program is targeted at serious "Level 1" offenders, more than half of all detainers placed and deportations carried out are of non-criminal individuals.