Earlier this week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the state would be temporarily opting out of the Secure Communities immigration enforcement program, following much campaigning by local and national advocates and activists. In the meantime the program ill be investigated for “not meeting its stated goal and serious consequences for witnesses, victims of crime and law enforcement.”

The announcement has garnered strong support from various organizations and individuals including the former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, faith leaders, and local politicians. Even a poll via the local NYC newspaper, The NY Daily News, shows a majority feeling like the S-Comm program discriminates against immigrants.

Pero the celebrating may be premature. Remember that when Illinois announced that they were opting out of S-Comm, ICE head John Morton paid a special visit to say that they couldn’t. An equally problematic situation would be the adoption of a law on the statewide level, like the Smart Act, that states that enforcement programs must meet certain criteria, like only really going after the “bad” or criminal immigrants. This would be problematic because looking at the bigger national picture, the federal government has yet to really look at immigration reform in a real way beyond more enforcement.

This is a suspension – not a complete opt-out. A ver what will happen next.