A controversial program recently started by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is called Secure Communities, or S-Comm. This program sends all fingerprints taken by local law enforcement to ICE. The result is that every person taken into custody, no matter if the charges are dropped, will have his/her immigration status revealed to ICE.
There is actually a way for counties to opt out of this program and several have chosen this path including San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Arlington, VA. Why have they opted out? Many seem to think this program is wonderful and will help to discover undocumented people. However, civil rights groups think that S-Comm is horrible.
For those that subscribe to the view that undocumented individuals are breaking the law, I can see how S-Comm would seem attractive. For those who feel that undocumented people are discriminated against and not given the rights they deserve, I can see how S-Comm would seem such an terrible thing.
However, there are practical concerns as to why a county would not want to use S-Comm that should be considered no matter your philosophy on undocumented people. Very large percentages of some cities are made up of undocumented people. If you were undocumented and knew about S-Comm, how willing would you be to assist law enforcement, even if you were completely innocent and in a position to assist? I personally would be very scared that I could somehow be placed in removal proceedings from my encounter with the police. With S-Comm, local police become pseudo-ICE agents, seeking out undocumented people. How can we inspire trust in immigrant communities when all peace officers working among us are also agents for ICE (in some sense).
I personally think opting out is wise for counties that have large immigrant communities, if for no better reason than public safety and trust of peace officers.
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If police were pseudo-ICE agents, wouldn't it also be putting them into a position where they could be in more danger than usual? If a person is in danger of losing their life upon deportation (drug crimes in Mexico right now, they would have an incentive to, not only avoid, but also physically harm a police officer if they were caught. There are just so many reasons S-comm is awful.
ReplyDeleteGood article, Dusty! Keep up the good work!
Oops! I didn't close the parenthesis....
ReplyDeleteDon't you think that this distrust of law enforcement is already rather prevalent among the undocumented? Although without S-comm local law enforcement may not have a mechanism to feed sensitive personal information to ICE, would undocumented communities really be aware of this? I would imagine that, as a group, they are probably poorly informed of their legal rights, and are probably rather leery around any type of government official.
ReplyDeleteHow did this work before S-comm? At what point, if any, did anyone check on the immigration status of the accused?
I agree, though, that we ought not do anything that would further weaken community trust in local law enforcement, particularly in those areas where there are large immigrant communities.
I hadn't thought of police officers being in more danger, Heather - that's a very good point.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think the word will get around rather quickly in immigrant communities about the fingerprinting. The difference with S-Comm is that ICE is getting everyone's info that gets fingerprinted, not just the one's that are placed in criminal proceedings. So someone that is arrested but released could potentially be placed in removal proceedings.