The farce of a task force, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Advisory Council Task Force, that attempted to tour the United States to instill confidence in a process that didn’t really exist, released a final report last week that included recommended tweaks to the mass deportation program.

The report contained no bombshell revelations. It confirmed what many advocates and activists have been saying since the program was expanded under President Obama (let us not forget that back then many advocates also said the program was ok since it targeted “criminals”). In fact many of the findings echo those in a report released last month by a coalition of organizations : its adverse impact on community policing; inaccurate and incomplete information about the program provided by ICE to state and local officials; and the lack of clarity on whether the program is in fact legally mandated.

Five of the task force’s 19 members, including all three who represented labor unions, and the former police chief of Sacramento Arturo Venegas, resigned, citing objections to the recommendations contained in the committee’s final report.

While the resignations are noteworthy, they are as much of a show as the task force itself. The resignations, happening after task force tour meetings were met with protest after protest, carry no weight, no consequence. A far stronger and more principled stance would have been to not participate in this toothless process from jump. Additionally, while across the board, the non-profit responses have been in support of the resignations and non-surprise at the findings and recommendations of the task force, with the additional demand of shutting down the program completely, there is still a centering on how S-Comm comes between police and community and/or negatively impacts “community policing”. While #altopolimigra is the most favored hashtag of the moment, I have yet to see a defining of “community policing” or any real acknowledgement of how even without enforcement programs, local police tend to terrorize immigrant people of color communities.

Sources : NY Immigration Coalition Press Release, National Immigration Law Center Press Release