Thread: Local Officials Disappointed by Gov. No on Secure Community

Local Officials Disappointed by Governor's 'No' on Secure Communities

Gov. Deval Patrick has said Massachusetts will not join the federal Secure Communities program. Several local leaders have defended the initiative.

By Mary MacDonald 11:00am

Several local leaders said they are disappointed in the recent decision by Gov. Deval Patrick to reject state participation in the federal Secure Communities program, which allows federal authorities to check the immigration status of anyone arrested in Massachusetts.

Both Milford Police Chief Thomas O'Loughlin and state Rep. John Fernandes (D-Milford) defended the program, which is used in the city of Boston, and which would have allowed the FBI to check arrests in other communities against immigration records.

"It takes an important tool away from police officers, who are trying to perform a difficult job," O'Loughlin said. "The tool is information."

Fernandes said the governor's decision sends the wrong message. "We need to make it clear to (people) who are here improperly, and those who are engaged in employing them, that we need to take this issue seriously."

Illegal immigration has had an impact on housing, the court system, employment and other areas, Fernandes said. Other areas of the state may not be as affected.
"We happen to live in a community that is severely impacted," he said. "It may not be a problem in Lexington, but it is a problem in Milford."

O'Loughlin said federal immigration authorities have emphasized they are not using the program to deport people for minor arrests, such as driving without a license.

The program sends fingerprint information to the federal immigration authorities for all people arrested, regardless of their race or ethnicity, O'Loughlin said, and then enables the immigration agents to contact local police if they want the suspect held.

The process removes any profling argument that can be used against local officers, the police chief said.

"What it takes away is bias. You can't argue bias," O'Loughlin said, because fingerprints for all arrests would be forwarded. "It doesn't matter what you look like. It doesn't matter what language you speak."

In Boston, O'Loughlin said, the city department often is told within 30 minutes of an arrest whether the federal immigration agents want a person held. The federal database considers immigration status as well as arrests for violent offenses, including rape, murder, a pattern of violence, O'Loughlin said.

The arrests made in Milford are now shared with the FBI to check for outstanding warrants, but the Secure Communities program would have allowed those arrests to be cross-checked with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) databases, according to Fernandes.

Fernandes urged the governor to reverse his decision. Fernandes said he was disappointed, but not surprised, that the governor rejected participation in the program, which is supposed to be mandated by the federal government in 2013.

"It's an attempt by the federal government to work with the states to try to identify criminal aliens and get them deported out of the country," Fernandes said Tuesday.

Now Massachusetts becomes the third state – after Illinois and New York – to abandon the program.

http://milford-ma.patch.com/articles/lo ... ommunities

The blood of anymore Americans murdered by illegal aliens who should have been deported will be on Corruptocrat Patrick's hands.