Salinas hosts national forum on deportation of non-criminal immigrants

By CLAUDIA MELÉNDEZ SALINAS
Herald Staff Writermontereyherald.com
Posted: 04/05/2012 09:09:16 PM PDT
April 6, 2012 4:9 AM GMTUpdated: 04/05/2012 09:09:16 PM PDT

Top U.S. civil rights leaders will gather Saturday in Salinas to shine a light on a controversial national program that critics say ensnares non-criminal immigrants for deportation.

Cruz Reynoso, former California Supreme Court judge; Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund; and Paul Garcia, chair of the national League of United Latin American Citizens' immigration committee, will host a forum aimed at calling attention to the Secure Communities program of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and how it leads to the deportation of undocumented immigrants with no criminal records.

Monterey County became the focus of the issue at a local and national level after The Herald reported in October the county's high percentage of undocumented immigrants who have committed no crimes being deported under the program, immigrant rights activists said.

Monterey County has the highest rate of deportation of immigrants in this category in the nation. According to data gathered by ICE, 53 percent of immigrants deported from August 2010 to August 2011 from the region had no criminal record.

In the same time period, Santa Cruz County deported 42 percent of immigrants with no criminal record, Santa Clara County 22 percent and California 29 percent, with 22 percent deported nationwide.

The Herald's article "started a very serious conversation," said Carlos Ramos, president of the local chapter of

LULAC who was recently named to the group's national committee on immigration. "We started strategizing, but we wanted to make sure the emphasis was not just local, but national."
First billed as voluntary, the Secure Communities program became mandatory in August 2011 and has been under fire by immigrant rights organizations because they say it leads to the separation of families and the abandonment of children born in the U.S.

Illegal entry to the United States is a misdemeanor.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security have repeatedly promoted the program as one to remove "dangerous" criminals. In 2011, 54 percent of people deported by ICE were criminal offenders.

Undocumented immigrants could be caught for any number of infractions, including having a broken taillight or driving under the influence. Once arrested, local law enforcement agencies must share with ICE fingerprints and other information that determines whether the individual is legally present in the United States.

But critics of the program say local jurisdictions are under no obligation to keep the immigrants locked up while an immigration judge determines whether the immigrant should be deported or not. With people in detention, the family unit falls apart and often has no resources to hire an attorney who knows the legal process.

"Directives out of the White House said they were not going to concentrate on people with non-criminal issues. That's why we're concerned this is going on," said Garcia of the national LULAC immigration committee. "We'd like to address this issue. We want to educate people on what they could do."

The forum will be a good opportunity to light a fire under an issue many feel passionate about and spur some action, said Paul Johnston of the Santa Cruz County Immigration Action Group.

"The issue is not just non-criminals, it's also minor offenders," Johnston said. "The whole criminal justice system has gotten all tangled up with immigration enforcement. Most people get caught by minor things like driving under the influence or other misdemeanors. The result is people are afraid to contact the police, like in domestic violence cases, because they're afraid their families will be deported."

The forum will take place from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Salinas City Hall Rotunda, 200 Lincoln Ave.


Claudia Meléndez Salinas can be reached at 753-6755 or cmelendez@montereyherald.com.

Salinas hosts national forum on deportation of non-criminal immigrants - MontereyHerald.com :