Administration Rethinks Use of Local Police for Immigration Enforcement

New Homeland Security Secretary Says Controversial Immigration Program Is Being Reviewed

By LAURA MECKLER


May 16, 2014 1:06 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON—A controversial program that uses local police to flag illegal immigrants for possible deportation is getting a fresh look, the new secretary of Homeland Security said, suggesting it may be misguided to deport people arrested but never convicted of crimes.

The comments by Jeh Johnson signaled a possible direction for the continuing review of deportation policy being conducted by the Obama administration. Under pressure from immigrant-rights groups, President Barack Obama directed Mr. Johnson to look for more "humane" ways to enforce federal immigration law.
The full scope of changes under consideration is unclear. Advocates are pressing for a large-scale move that would affirmatively protect perhaps millions of people in the U.S. illegally who, they argue, pose no threat. But Mr. Johnson suggested he may not have the authority for that.

"We have to be careful not to pre-empt Congress in certain areas," he said Thursday on the PBS program "NewsHour." "They are the lawmakers. Whatever we do in the executive branch, we have to do within the confines of existing law."

Administration officials are also concerned that such a move would kill any remaining hope of legislative action on immigration this year by feeding GOP arguments that Mr. Obama can't be trusted to enforce the law.

More narrowly, activists also want the administration to scrap or significantly overhaul the Secure Communities program, which runs the names of people booked by local police through a federal immigration database.

Mr. Johnson said he was giving a "fresh look" to Secure Communities. The program allows federal immigration-enforcement officers to ask local police and sheriffs to detain people who have been booked and are identified as possibly in the U.S. illegally for potential deportation.

Immigration advocates blame Secure Communities for deporting people with low-level violations, such as a traffic incident, as well as people who aren't convicted of any crime. Mr. Johnson suggested that the program might be reframed to focus on people with convictions, not just bookings.

"In my judgment, Secure Communities should be an efficient way to work with state and local law enforcement to reach the removal priorities that we have—those who are convicted of something," he said. "The program has become very controversial."

Asked if changes could happen in the near term, he said, "I believe it will and it should."

Stephen Miller, a spokesman for Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.), a critic of Mr. Obama's immigration policy, disputes the idea that too many people are being deported. He notes that the number of interior deportations have fallen, as those at or near the border have risen. "Those in the interior without serious offenses on their record are largely immune from immigration enforcement," he said.

The Secure Communities program has become a flash point for immigrants, partly because it instills fear that a broken taillight could lead directly to deportation. Still, the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute found that about 85% of those identified through the program in the past five years weren't deported. Of those who were, 75% had been convicted of a crime, the institute said.

Following Mr. Johnson's comments, on Friday more than 150 immigration and other groups wrote the secretary to ask him to use his authority to stop the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency from holding people caught up in Secure Communities.

"We call on you to immediately halt the use of these holds, which are causing widespread constitutional violations, fueling unprecedented levels of deportations, abetting racial profiling and undermining public safety," wrote groups including the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which organized the letter. "Any `humane' immigration enforcement regime must eliminate them entirely."

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