NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been pushing his business backed vision for comprehensive immigration reform but the state that his city sits in soon will be a Secure Community state.

Secure Communities is a Bush Jr. policy, expanded under Obama, that gives local jails the power to turn over the fingerprints of the incarcerated to check the immigration status of those inside to I.C.E. so that individuals can be identified for deportation.

In May, the New York State Division of Criminal Justice services signed a Memorandum of Understanding with I.C.E. making NYS a Secure Communities state. You can see a copy of the M.O.U. here. (PDF file).

Here’s where the “good vs bad immigrant” narrative gets defended. The assumption is that those that are in jail are criminals and likely deserve whatever punishment come to them. If you are undocumented, part of this punishment means deportation. I.C.E. itself says that the focus of the program is to go after those with “serious criminal offenses”, But reading I.C.E.’s own documents, they also target those convicted of minor offenses “at their discretion”. Additionally, reading the M.O.U., the submission of fingerprints to I.C.E. happens not when someone is convicted, but when they are booked.

Understanding how racial profiling across the country targets people of color even in the absence of laws like Arizona’s SB1070, NY State’s implementation of “Secure Communities” puts all the undocumented at risk.

Via / Long Island WINS