Posts Tagged ‘department of homeland security’
No Surprise in the S-Comm Task Force Sham
6:52 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Secure Communities · No Comments
2 May 2012Advocates, organizations, individuals and the federal government all knew it was a sham from jump. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) created a task force that went around the country hearing testimony and protests regarding the Secure Communities (S-Comm) deportation program. That task force issued a report last September saying that S-Comm threatened police community relations and therefore needed to be reformed, suspended or terminated. Last week, in what should come as a surprise to no one, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced one tiny tweak to the program. ICE says it will no longer put people in deportation proceedings arrested solely on a minor traffic violation as long as that person has no prior criminal history. Deportation will happen after a conviction.
Many organizations have released statements expressing outrage that ICE ignored the recommendations of it’s own task force, but really this should come as a surprise to no one. Ever since the program’s expansion under President Obama, it has been a driving force behind the over a million deportations that have taken place under his administration. The program has been highlighted as proof of Obama’s tough boots on the ground policy that contradicts numerous promises and press releases indicating discretion.
New Lawsuit Targets Another U.S. Deportation Program
12:39 pm By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Justice|Politics · Comments Off
14 Mar 2012Last week a number of immigration advocacy organizations in Washington D.C. filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security seeking information regarding their Criminal Alien Program (CAP).
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the CAP program provides ICE-wide direction and support in the identification and arrest of those immigrants who are incarcerated within federal, state and local prisons and jails, as well as at-large immigrants with criminal records. This is done through ICE presence in jails and prisons and initiating deportation proceedings against people convicted of criminal offenses. It’s important to note that CAP does not just look at undocumented immigrants but also green-card holders, short-term temporary workers and visitors with proper authorization,
The lawsuit filed by the American Immigration Council (AIC) and the Connecticut chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) alleges that ICE also sweeps up individuals who have been arrested but never convicted of any crime, a violation of due process.
Specifically the two organizations are seeking responsive, non-exempt records regarding CAP under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
While the federal government continues to expand another deportation program, Secure Communities, over the past five years alone, CAP has led to the arrest of more than a million people, and the program was implicated in approximately half of all removal proceedings in FY 2009.
From a press release announcing the lawsuit:
“Although CAP supposedly targets the worst criminal offenders, the limited information we have shows that this is not always the case,” according to Melissa Crow, Director of AIC’s Legal Action Center. “Like Secure Communities, this insidious program seems to target individuals with little or no criminal history for deportation and to incentivize pretextual stops and racial profiling.”
ICE claims that the CAP program saves money and resources but from fiscal years 2005 to 2009 the largest as well as the fastest growing segment of appropriated dollars went to ICE’s Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) office whose budget more than doubled (increasing 104%). While ICE has stated that the focus of the program is high risk violent offenders it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that this investment in criminalizing immigrant communities has increased under Obama as deportation numbers have increased across the board.
Ending Secure Communities and 287(g) in an Already Anti-Migrant State
1:53 pm By Maegan La Mala · Alabama|Immigration|Politics|Secure Communities · Comments Off
9 Nov 2011Yesterday, almost civil and human rights organizations from across the United States, and a few international organizations, sent a letter to the Secretary of Honeland Security, urging her to stop deportation programs like 287(g) and Secure Communities in Alabama. Many of the signatories, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), had already been calling for a stop to the policies that currently are deporting about 400,000 people a year in the United States, but the recent implementation of what is being called the harshest anti-migrant law in the country is compelling many to focus on Alabama.
Secretary Napolitano is targeted because the successful implementation of HB 56 is contingent upon cooperation and participation of DHS as the state law relies on the department to take custody of non-citizens identified through HB 56 for detention and deportation. The groups also urged DHS to promote and enforce its own guidance which limits state action in immigration matters, as well as exercise favorable discretion in any case that arises from enforcement of Alabama’s HB 56.
HB 56 combined with ICE pattern and practices specifically threaten Latinos in the state. Since immigration is racialized as a latino issue, people who are perceived as Latino will be targeted. Racial profiling threatens the 185,602 Latinos in Alabama, a population that while making up only 3.9% of the total population according to the 2010 Census, increased 145% in the last decade.
The Department of Justice is currently challenging the constitutionality of HB 56, which went into effect in September. I signed onto to the letter to Secretary Napolitano, but with a healthy dose of cynicism in terms of expectations. The Department of Homeland Security through Napolitano continues to defend it’s deportation record and Secure Communities. The White House continues to defend Secure Communities. It will be interesting to see how the Federal Government, who has helped to create the anti-immigrant atmosphere surrounding states like Alabama, further reacts to the crisis in the state. Will the answer be a policy change or a public relations campaign.
Sources : New America Media
Premature Cries of Gratitude & Victory : On DHS Immigration Announcement
9:20 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Obama|Politics · 5 Comments
1 Sep 2011It’s been about two weeks since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the White House made an announcement that is being (purposely) interpreted as a victory and something to be thankful for by many in the immigrant advocacy movement(s).
DHS announced the eventual (time frame please) creation of a panel that will allegedly review the approximately 300,000 currently active deportation cases. The panel will separate those cases into two categories : high priority and low priority (no word on how that determination will be made). DHS will then allegedly suspend the deportations of the low priority cases, focusing instead on the same “dangerous” and “bad” immigrants allegedly targeted by Secure Communities. But don’t worry, those who have their cases suspended will not get green cards or even work permits. They will be able to live in the same shadow they always have, just without a deportation process.
Yay?
On a call that I was on two nights ago sponsored by Reform Immigration for America (RI4A), Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), featuring Congressman Luis Gutierrez (perhaps you were reading my angry tweets), “Victory” was the buzzword. While it was made clear that there was no process to apply for and that people should not put themselves in deportation in order to have their case reviewed (a call I saw some making in the days immediately following the announcement), the DHS press release (because really that is all it is until panel is formed and procedures are established) was hailed as an answer to “our” demands.
Department of Homeland Security Road Show : Next Stop Today in Arlington, VA
8:09 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Secure Communities|Virginia · Comments Off
24 Aug 2011Apologies for taking a few days off from the site to spend time with visiting familia. One thing is for sure, that in spite of little earthquakes, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) demonstrates that the passage of time doesn’t change a thing.
After holding such successful taskforce meetings in Los Angeles and Chicago, DHS is holding another meeting tonight at George Mason Law School at 3351 Fairfax Drive in Arlington, Virginia to hear testimony on the Secure Communities deportation policy.
Like with the other meetings, local organizations are holding press conferences and actions to show their appreciation. Today at 5:15 p.m. ET, followed by March at 5:30 p.m, there will be a press Conference at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, 3304 Washington Blvd., Arlington, VA.
Protests Against Secure Communities Sham Task Force Continue While ICE Tries to Cover It’s Lies
10:48 am By Maegan La Mala · chicago|Immigration|Secure Communities · 1 Comment
18 Aug 2011As the Secure Communities task force circus continues it’s national tour, assuring people that they are listening as they deport people, the protests continue and are escalating.
Yesterday in Chicago, following the trend started at the Los Angeles S-Comm task force meeting, there was a massive walk out. Following the walk out, while the “meeting” continued inside with some giving testimony as to the local impact of the deportation policy, 6 undocumented youth were arrested in acts of civil disobedience. All of the undocumented youth who were part of the action have been released, along with 3 supporters who were also detained by police.
Court ordered documents released earlier this week include acknowledgement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attorneys that they would have to “rewrite” memos on whether the program is mandatory for states and localities and revealed schisms between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the right of states and localities to opt out of the program.
Today ICE will be back in court today arguing it should be able to keep secret documents relating to the agency’s purported legal basis to impose S-Comm on unwilling states like Massachusetts, Illinois and New York.
More Responses to Secure Communities Officially Becoming a Mandatory Deportation Program
12:08 pm By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Politics|Secure Communities · 1 Comment
12 Aug 2011It’s been exactly a week since the Department of Homeland Security asserted the mandatory nature of the Secure Communities deportation program and voided it’s agreements with states across the country. Since then there have been numerous responses from politicians and organizations alike.
There have been “community” task force meetings in some parts of the country. There is now a push by some sectors asking for members of the task force to resign, given how DHS’s announcement shows that there is no interest on the part of the government in hearing from members of any community regarding the impact of S-Comm. For example, this afternoon in Tuscon, there will be a rally demanding that Tucson Police Chief, Roberto Villaseñor, who has been named as a member of this Taskforce, resign and not legitimize a program that will result in the most massive deportation process we have ever seen.
Obama’s Department of Homeland Security Makes It Clear that Secure Communities Was Always Mandatory
8:03 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Justice|Politics · 4 Comments
8 Aug 2011If there was any question about whether the Secure Communities deportation program was voluntary, we are one step closer to a clearer answer. On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that the roll out of the program would be continuing and that all Memoranda Of Agreement (MOAs) with states that have implemented the program are terminated. In other words, the intentions of the administration are crystalline. States that have “opted out” like Illinois, New York and Massachusetts really never were meant to have that option and no one in the future will have that option. Deportation is the Obama’s administration’s commitment to the the immigration reform process.
It has been interesting, being able to read the responses from organizations, many who were demanding clarity on the issue of jurisdictions being able to opt out. Since the news was released on Friday afternoon, it hasn’t gotten the buzz it should in the so-called progressive media. There were no protests this weekend, that I know of anyway. Hopefully everyone is planning (she writes optimistically). But I doubt it (she writes more honestly).
If I were more creative, had more time and resources I would make a little puzzle, asking you, the reader, to draw a line from the language used to the organization that used it. But I have none of the aforementioned so I will just tell you what the statements said without naming names. Some organizations have called the program “botched” as if a roll out of any mass deportation program could be done in a correct way.
As pointed out by @DREAMActivist on twiter on Friday, other language being used is that of “states rights”, how through this announcement, the Federal Government is effectively using words that historically have been used as a justification for segregation and lax environmental protection. Are we seeing another example of just how big the gap is between reform and real transformation?
Real Changes to Deportation Policies or Window Dressing?
10:29 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Obama|U.S.-Mexico Border · 6 Comments
21 Jun 2011Last week the Department of Homeland Security announced alleged changes to the way the controversial Secure Communities deportation program and deportation policies in general are carried out.
According to a series of June 17th memos released by John Morton, Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Secure Communities, which runs the fingerprints of those arrested through immigration databases in order to find undocumented immigrants, will continue to be rolled out with the goal that all 50 states be using the program by 2013. The memo urges immigration agents to consider how long an undocumented immigrant has been in the United States, or whether the immigrant was brought here as a child and is studying in high school or college. The authorities are also instructed to give “particular care and consideration” to veterans and active duty members of the military, especially if they have been in combat, and to their close relatives. Mr. Morton also expanded the authority of federal lawyers who handle cases in immigration courts to dismiss deportation proceedings against immigrants without serious criminal records. Mr. Morton also issued new guidelines he said would ensure that illegal immigrants detained by the police who were victims of domestic violence and witnesses to crimes would not be deported.
The memos also creates an advisory commission to study how S-Comm actually is working.
This consideration is clearly a response to the pressure not only coming from advocates and activists, but from lawmakers and state governments attempting to opt-out of a program sold to them as something it was never meant to be.
Advocates, activists, and elected officials across the country rejected the memos as cosmetic and continue to demand a moratorium on the use of S-Comm as well as allowing states to opt-out of the program. While others, including immigration attorneys, praised the changes especially when it comes to prosecutorial discretion .
Evidence Shows No Confusion on Secure Communities, Only Deception
8:52 am By Maegan La Mala · Illinois|Immigration|New York|Politics|Secure Communities · 18 Comments
20 May 2011Coming on the heels of Wednesday’s rally in front of NY Governor Andrew Cuomo’s NYC office demanding that he pull the state out of the Secure Communities deportation program are letters which show that the so-called confusion regarding the ability to opt-out was more like a cover-up.
In letters, that I will admit to finding somewhat confusing (PDF of letters here), a fired contractor, Dan Cadman says that he told DHS/ICE, in documents that have to come to light as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, that they had the right to tell states that Secure Communities was a mandatory program. Cadman asserts that he was then told to say that Secure Communities was voluntary, especially when pushing areas with many immigrants, like New York and Cook County – Illinois, to sign agreements. The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, John Morton, points to Cadman as the source of confusion regarding the opt-out option. Cadman asserts that it seems to be part of the design, especially in order to get places like New York to sign on.
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