Feds to check D.C. jail records for illegal immigrants
Feds to check D.C. jail records for illegal immigrants
washingtonexaminer.com
Alan Blinder
June 04, 2012
Federal authorities on Tuesday will begin checking the immigration statuses of all people arrested in the District, marking the D.C. debut of a controversial program that has put city leaders at odds with the Obama administration.SClBThe Secure Communities program, in place in more than 3,000 jurisdictions nationwide, allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to review the same arrest data that the FBI receives to try to locate people who are illegally in the United States.
Although federal officials say the program has been a success -- statistics show the initiative has led to the deportation of more than 49,000 felons -- District leaders decried the effort as dangerous to D.C. residents.
"In areas like the District that have large immigrant communities, people rely on the trust of those community members that their immigration status will not be threatened by their cooperation in local law enforcement investigations," Mayor Vincent Gray said. "Secure Communities jeopardizes that trust and consequently makes everybody less safe."
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman didn't respond Monday to a request for comment.
Every jurisdiction in Maryland and Virginia participates in Secure Communities, which has netted more than 3,400 "convicted criminal aliens" in those two states, but the District has long resisted the program.
The D.C. Council tried to bar the city from taking part, but with the mandate now in place, lawmakers are working to limit the District's participation.
Legislators will consider emergency legislation Tuesday that would bar the District from holding inmates on the federal government's behalf for more than 24 hours and then only if the person was convicted of a violent crime.
The legislation will build on Gray's 2011 executive order that prohibited city agencies from asking about a person's immigration status.
Although District leaders have often praised President Obama, the Secure Communities program has exposed a fissure between local Democrats and their Pennsylvania Avenue neighbor.
"For the political purpose of looking like you're doing something, you're endangering communities," Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh told The Washington Examiner. "They could have a much more precise program, but for the reason of making a big show of it, they're doing it in this broad way."
Feds to check D.C. jail records for illegal immigrants | Washington Examiner
