ImmigrationDefying governor, Mass. officials seek to join Secure Communities

Massachusetts communities seek to join Secure Communities // Source: hispanic.cc

Local law enforcement officials and state lawmakers are increasingly working to circumvent Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick’s decision to opt out of the controversial Secure Communities immigration program.

Last Wednesday U.S Senator Scott Brown (R – Massachusetts) called on DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to allow the state to join Secure Communities without Governor Patrick’s approval.

“My constituents have made it abundantly clear to me that they view Secure Communities as an important publicsafety tool that could have prevented deadly incidents that have rocked their communities,” Brown wrote in a letter to Napolitano. “I strongly encourage (the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency) to swiftly and expeditiously activate the remaining jurisdictions in Massachusetts.”

Senator Brown’s letter comes after three sheriffs travelled to Washington, D.C. and met with federal officials in an attempt to join Secure Communities against the governor’s wishes.

Patrick called their move a “publicity stunt” and pointed out that Massachusetts already sends fingerprints to the FBI.

Under Secure Communities, a detained individual’s fingerprints are automatically scanned and checked against DHS and FBI databases to determine if they have had any prior arrests as well as their immigration status.

In recent months, the program has drawn fierce criticism from opponents who say that it has been used by zealous immigration officials to deport large numbers of law-abiding undocumented aliens. Governor Patrick joined other states including New York, California, and Illinois who have all made efforts to reject the program as well.

In an about face, Boston mayor Menino recently soughtto leave the program. Boston was among the first cities in the United States to test the program in 2006, but Menino turned against the program following a police review which foundthe program was actually hampering police investigations because immigrants were discouraged from reporting crimes or talking to police for fear of deportation.

In a letter to the Secure Communities task force, Menino argued that the program has created tension between local immigrant and law enforcement officials.

“As operated now, Secure Communities is diminishing trust, an essential part of the neighborhood fabric and a vital public safety tool,’’ Menino wrote. “Secure Communities must change substantially or be scrapped.”

Menino also argued that the majority of people deported under the program have never been convicted of a crime or only committed minor infractions.

In recent weeks, the Secure Communities debate has become particularly heated due to several violent crimes involving illegal immigrants. Last week, an illegal immigrant from Brazil was arrested after slaughtering his twenty-four year old estranged girlfriend. Meanwhile, an undocumented alien from Ecuador with a prior arrest record was recently charged with drunk driving and vehicular homicide in the dragging death of a twenty-year old man.

“Over the past months, several high profile incidents have clearly shown that Secure Communities is needed in Massachusetts now more than ever,” Brown wrote in hisletter to Napolitano. “In these cases, illegal immigrants had been detained by local authorities for criminal violations and were later shown to have extensive criminal histories. If these individuals had been deported following their prior arrests, the lives of at least three people in Massachusetts might have been saved.”