Secure Communities a non-issue to many Mainers

Secure Communities a non-issue to many Mainers

May 16, 2012 7:57pm

(NECN: Amy Sinclair) - In Boston this week, angry protests from immigrant rights activists helped voice concerns over the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's new "Secure Communities" program.

But in Maine, where the initiative is about to be rolled out, the controversial federal program is virtually unknown.

In Portland, it simply isn't on the radar at City Hall.

Once the program is in place, fingerprints of anyone who has been arrested in Maine will also be shared with the Department of Homeland Security, which they say is a tool that will help them identify, detain and deport criminal illegal immigrants.

But the ACLU of Maine believes this new program could lead to racial profiling and mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.

"How do we know they're not stopping someone to check their immigration status as opposed to going after crime?" asked Jon Gaither, Maine's ACLU Education Coordinator.

And the staff at the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project say the increased scrutiny could erode the relationship between immigrants and local law enforcement.

"It makes it feel a lot risker for immigrant communities to report crimes," said Hayden Anderson of the Immigration Legal Advocacy Project.

Part of the reason these issues aren't being talked about much is that Maine is the whitest and oldest state in the nation. The state's 3 percent immigration population is here via the Refugee Resettlement Program.

"We really worked hard to be a community that's perceived as welcoming to new residents," said Portland Mayor Michael Brennan.

Because of the demographics in Maine, the number of ICE-related arrests is low. Currently, there are 832 people detained in ICE custody in New England, with three of them in Maine being held at Cumberland County Jail.

According to the Cumberland County Sheriff, sharing fingerprints may not be that simple. He says because of software incompatibilities, for now, if ICE wants prints, they're going to have to come and pick them up in person.

Secure Communities a non-issue to many Mainers