Not only did Illinois pass it’s own version of the DREAM Act yesterday, Governor Pat Quinn sent a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) saying the state was canceling it’s participation in Secure Communities.

The letter states “that the implementation of the Secure Communities program in Illinois is contrary to the stated purpose of the MOA… By ICE’s own measure, less than 20% of those who have been deported from Illinois under the program have ever been convicted of a serious crime.” The Governor’s letter concludes, “With this termination, no new counties in Illinois can be activated and those counties that were previously activated… must be deactivated and removed from the Secure Communities program.”

This move to opt-out of Secure Communities should serve as an example for other states, including my own New York, which has an S-Comm agreement in place. It will be interesting to see how ICE handles this as they have said that opting out is not an option and the goal is to have S-Comm implemented nationwide as a matter of policy.