Secure Communities Task Force Releases Recommendations, Five Members Resign In Disagreement

WASHINGTON -- A group tasked with suggesting fixes for the Secure Communities immigration enforcement program released its report on Thursday as five committee members resigned in disagreement, including all three union members and a retired police chief.

The task force recommended the Department of Homeland Security start over and "reintroduce" the program in areas where it has proved unpopular, and recommended undocumented immigrants with minor traffic offenses be exempted from removal proceedings through the program. The five members of the 19-member task force resigned because they could not support the final recommendations and disagreed with the committee's decision-making process.

Arturo Venegas, retired police chief of Sacramento and director of the Law Enforcement Engagement Initiative, said the committee's recommendations fall "far short" of the principles he kept in mind throughout the council.

"I believe that people with minor infractions, such as driving without a license, will still be put into deportation proceedings based on the scheme recommended by the task force," he wrote in a letter to Chuck Wexler, chairman of the task force. "Immigrants will continue to fear that contact with the police could lead to deportation, crimes will go unreported, and criminals will remain free to prey on others."

Secure Communities, a central part of the administration's goal to deport 400,000 undocumented immigrants per year, relies on fingerprints taken by local police to detect and remove undocumented immigrants. But critics of the program argue it nets too many people who commit minor crimes, such as traffic violations, or who are charged but never convicted.

The task force report was highly critical of the roll-out and procedures of Secure Communities, writing that the department gave "incorrect or incomplete" information to localities regarding the program.

The Department of Homeland Security made a number of missteps in rolling out the program, particularly by making contradictory statements about whether the program would be mandatory. At first, homeland security officials said the program would be voluntary for local communities and based on memorandums of understanding with states. But when counties and states began to try to opt out, the department rapidly changed course, saying the program was never meant as an "opt-in/opt-out program."

States were later informed that their memorandums of understanding with the Department of Homeland Security were meaningless. New York, Illinois and Massachusetts, all of which moved to block the program locally, were told the program would continue to operate.

The report also said Secure Communities could have an "unintended negative impact" on immigrant communities and harm community policing efforts by making immigrants scared to contact the police. The task force found in its hearings that many people detected by immigration authorities by the program had committed minor crimes, which was inconsistent with the department's stated goal of targeting the "worst of the worst."

The three union members to resign, Christopher Crane and Monica Beamer of the American Federation of Government Employees and Andrea Zuniga DiBitetto of the AFL-CIO, said in a Wednesday letter that they could not support the final report because they disagreed with the manner in which it was written.

"We entered the [task force] with a true willingness to participate in a collaborative effort," the letter reads. "Unfortunately, throughout the process, it became clear that our perspectives and and recommendations were not going to be acknowledged or contained in the report onto which we have been asked to sign."

Moving forward, some critics of the program argue the task force report, along with the five resignations, shows that the Secure Communities should be ended.

"This task force was nothing but a colossal failure by [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to defend an program that's indefensible," Sarahi Uribe of National Day Laborer's Organizing Network, a key critic of the program, said in a statement. "There's only one recommendation to make: end [Secure Communities] now."

Matt Chandler, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that the department's Advisory Council would review and finalize the recommendations, then submit them to John Morton, the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The task force members who resigned will have the chance to meet with Morton to discuss their concerns, Chandler said.

Comments

[herenow12]

07:12 PM on 09/26/2011

Stop terrorizing communities with your "task forces".

[vtmilitia]

04:22 PM on 09/25/2011

Really all we need do is adapt Mexico's laws AND enforce them. The next step would be to stand back to avoid being trampled in the exodus.

[GulfportM]

04:23 PM on 09/20/2011

"I believe that people with minor infractions, such as driving without a license, will still be put into deportation proceedings based on the scheme recommended by the task force,"

I think he may have forgotten about the other illegal activity of violating the Federal Immigration Law.

[nohopepope2187]

11:34 AM on 09/20/2011

I oppose illegal immigration, but I can't deny that we need to revise our immigration laws.

[hrpmap]

12:07 PM on 09/19/2011

Okay if illegal aliens get a pass on traffic violations them Americans need to get the same pass.

[voyager48]

11:30 AM on 09/19/2011

Saying that they will be deported for minor infractions is like saying that a condemned man is executed for eating his last meal.

[Norski]

12:39 PM on 09/19/2011

And per your definition one could also say that protecting those working illegally in the USA from deportation is like is like executing American Workers for having done nothing more than living a law abiding life. Get real!

[azlegalcitizen]

08:37 PM on 09/19/2011

you DO NOT MAKE SENSE WITH THIS COMMENT AND I AM AFRAID TO ASK YOU TO EXPLAIN THE COMMENT, PROBABLY JUST MORE NONSENSE.

[voyager48]

10:53 AM on 09/20/2011

OK Let me put it another way - the chronological progression of events is that a condemned man eats his last meal and shortly after that they are executed. Under the "pro-illegal's" false logic, they are therefore being executed for eating their last meal.

Facts are that the condemned man is not executed for eating his last meal, but rather having broken a law that carries a death penalty. Similarly illegals are not deported for trivial events but for having, amongst a host of other things, come, stayed and worked illegally - punishable by deportation. The fact that they had not been held to account till now is another whole discussion!

[James Haun]

11:03 AM on 09/19/2011

"I believe that people with minor infractions, such as driving without a license, will still be put into deportation proceedings based on the scheme recommended by the task force,"

~ Good they are here illegally and should not be exempt from the laws that govern coming into our country.

"Immigrants will continue to fear that contact with the police could lead to deportation, crimes will go unreported, and criminals will remain free to prey on others."

~ First, they are illegal aliens that you are speaking of - immigrants are here legally and have nothing to fear from contact with the police. Second, illegal aliens should fear contact with the police because all state sanctioned officials should be able to notify Immigration enforcement officials whenever they come across an illegal alien. Illegal is illegal plain and simple!

[mdsman]

08:52 AM on 09/19/2011

they are not "undocumented" they have broken the law and stayed in the US illeagally.
Deport them and prosecute all that hire them...corp and personal

[intolleft]

07:27 AM on 09/19/2011

"I believe that people with minor infractions, such as driving without a license, will still be put into deportation proceedings..."

As they should.

[tnkeating]

03:48 PM on 09/18/2011

Fact is most illegal aliens broke the law to get in here to begin with, some came here legally and over stayed their welcome, either way they broke the law. That makes them criminals, highway men, bandito's, call it what you like. That said I have a very deep respect for many of them as I know and have worked with quite a few over the years, most that I know have a great work ethic and a deep respect for God and I am sure many would make good citizens, probably better citizens than many of us that were born here. If we had a way to identify the ones who made a living and took care of their families without accepting welfare or other services, I believe those are the ones we should allow to stay and start the process of citizenship. My ideas about the others wouldn't be to agreeable with the rest of you progressives.

[alunsulen]

09:22 AM on 09/18/2011

Change the law to deny illegals the right to life and property, and the citizens will take care of the rest. No need to waste money and as non-citizens, they are not constitutionally protected anyway.

[BCinVA]

12:07 AM on 09/18/2011

The solution to the illegal immigration problem doesn't require a fence, troops on the border, millions of dollars or more legislation. All that is required is for the Mexican government to pass and enforce a minimum wage law that pays about $8.00 an hour with minimal benefits. Right now an immigrant can come to the US and mow grass for 5 bucks an hour under the table and make more than he can staying at home and working for GM in one their plants making 4 bucks an hour. This won't change though, because the big corporations that exploit the cheap Mexican labor would not allow it. The problem is less an immigration problem as it is a global capitalism problem.

[bob789]

09:20 AM on 09/18/2011

right on

[Kepler Poinsot]

11:25 PM on 09/17/2011

USA needs more than Secure Communities, in terms of illegal aliens and employers that hire them, the USA needs Locked Communities. Employer refuses to use E-verify and hires an illegal alien, employer is locked up in jail. Illegal alien tries to rent an apartment or buy a home, landlord or banker will be locked up in jail for not using E-verify before renting apartment or authorizing a mortgage.

Illegal alien tries to enter the USA illegally, or misuse visas beyond expiration, lock em up to a chain gang work detail digging a new canal, like the Panama canal, along USA Mexico border.

[HockeyMom]

11:23 AM on 09/18/2011

This scenario makes us all police officers. Next we will spy on our neighbors and then we will take the law into our own hands and punish our neighbors. Then that family and my family will be at war with each other. We will degrade into a tribal warfare system. This is a road to hell and it has no good intentions or outcome.

[Steve-G]

10:57 PM on 09/18/2011

Is that how your theory of limited government works? All I can say is, WOW!

[Esther21072011]

10:12 PM on 09/17/2011

KISS - find them, deport them, secure the border - period.

The use of the phrase 'undocumented immigrant' is used specifically - they are not undocumented immigrants any more than drug dealers are just 'undocumented pharmacists'.

[Gasparilla]

06:43 PM on 09/17/2011

The only "reform" we need is enforce the law. The only "broken system" we have is the continuing and repeated failure to enforce the laws we have. Social Security knows when a number is being used by two or more people, when only one has a legal right to do so. And they do NOTHING about it. How much would a computer generated letter to the business where those people are employed cost? Why can't an individual know when someone else is using their number? And there are areas where Secure Communities has proved "unpopular"? That's a real shame. Imagine, the nerve of it, actually enforcing the law.

[Esther21072011]

10:14 PM on 09/17/2011

Actually - they do. At the end of the year the employer gets a 'no match' letter. But by then - they either supply a diff SSN or move on to another job. E-verify does it instantly.

[Gasparilla]

11:40 PM on 09/17/2011

The point is that nothing is done about it and the person who has that number has no idea that anyone is using it. I am in favor of e verify, but SS has let this go on with no practical consequences to the people who cheat.