Aug. 16, 2011 Updated: 9:22 a.m.

Immigrant activists demand resignation of task force members

Immigrant-rights activists call for the dismantling of Secure Communities, a federal immigration program, and walk out of a Monday night hearing on the issue.

BY CINDY CARCAMO / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

LOS ANGELES – Calling for dismantling a controversial program that has led to an unprecedented number of deportations, about 200 immigrant-rights activists stormed out of a federal task force hearing on the issue Monday evening in Los Angeles.

Department of Homeland Security officials formed the task force – which includes law enforcement authorities, advocates and scholars – to make recommendations on how to best focus the federal program Secure Communities on individuals who pose a true public safety or national security threat. Monday's meeting was the only one on the West Coast.

Isaura Garcia, at the podium, cries in Los Angeles on Monday as she recounts her arrest under the Department of Homeland Security Secure Communities Program, which was created in 2008 and calls for police to submit suspects' fingerprints so they can be cross-checked with federal deportation orders. Garcia is a domestic-violence victim who, after reporting an incident of abuse, was arrested by Los Angeles police and then arrested by immigration authorities.

DAMIAN DOVARGANES, The Associated Press

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The meetings are intended to give task force members a chance to hear from those in the community who have been affected by Secure Communities, a program that checks the fingerprints of every person booked by local law enforcement agencies against DHS databases for immigration violations. The program, launched in March last year in Orange County, is intended to identify and deport people who are in the country illegally and suspected of or convicted of serious crimes.

However, the program has led to a national outcry from immigrant activists and some law enforcement officials who say the vast majority of people targeted under the program were arrested for offenses as minor as selling street food without a permit. Advocates also say that in practice the program targets anyone booked into police custody, including crime victims and non-criminals, for transfer to immigration authorities.

About 20 people from the Orange County Dream Team and other local immigrant activists attended the meeting. Paty Madueño, leader of the Orange County Community Organization, told the task force that families are being torn apart in Orange County.

"There are so many stories," she said. "Our communities are bleeding. Please no more bleeding. No more tears. We need justice. Enough is enough."

In fiscal year 2010, immigration officials removed more than 392,000 people from the United States, according to ICE statistics. About 95,000 had criminal convictions.

While the meeting began peacefully, about halfway through, the crowd grew restless and unruly while the two task force members who attended the hearing – Sister Rosemary Welsh, a nun from Laredo, Texas, and Arturo Venegas Jr., a former Sacramento police chief – listened to speakers who said they've been harmed by the program and a handful of others who said they supported the measure.

Julio Giron, a U.S. citizen who told the crowd he legally came to the United States from Guatemala, spoke in favor of Secure Communities, blaming employers for hiring illegal workers.

"The only thing we are asking for is to be secure," the 45-year-old Long Beach resident told the task force members.

Immigrant activists walked out of the meeting after Welsh and Venegas refused their requests to resign from the task force.

Welsh and Venegas told the activists they sympathized with their plight but refused to step down and attempted to explain why, but they were interrupted by protestors.

That's when Jonathan Perez, a San Bernardino student who is in the country illegally, directed the crowd via megaphone to leave.

About 50 people remained in the room while the meeting continued.

ICE has launched a variety of measures and enhancements to Secure Communities, including a new training program for law enforcement agents to address concerns, spokeswoman Virginia Kice said in a written statement.

"These measures will help guarantee that Secure Communities is operated in a manner that is fully consistent with all applicable civil rights and civil liberties laws and policies," Kice said.

The 6 p.m. meeting was preceded by a morning protest near Plaza Olvera where a coalition of immigrant-rights activists wearing T-shirts and holding posters emblazoned with the words "Who would Jesus deport?" and "I am undocumented" denounced Secure Communities.

Some of those who faced deportation because of the program told their stories at the rally and again at the evening hearing.

Marked with bruises and desperate, Isaura Garcia said, she called 911 for help against her abusive boyfriend. The 20-year-old Los Angeles mother of a toddler said it changed her life – but not for the better.

"I would never have called if I had known that I would face deportation as a result," she told the crowd at the rally.

A coalition of about a dozen immigrant- and community-rights groups also introduced a couple of ice cream vendors who were arrested on suspicion of not having the proper permits for the sale of food and then were caught in the program's dragnet.

Activists say Garcia's story is not unusual. They say crime victims and those who commit minor offenses have faced deportation or been deported because of the program.

Garcia said her English was limited at the time and that officers didn't understand her and instead arrested her on suspicion of domestic violence. The charges against her were eventually dropped and the deportation order was stayed by immigration officials when the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California became involved, she said. Garcia is now in the process of applying for a visa.

"If the government continues with this program, the community will avoid the police. When the whole community is afraid of the police, more crimes go unreported and more victims are unprotected," she said.

The task force is responsible for preparing a report with recommendations on how ICE can adjust the program to mitigate potential impacts on community policing practices, including how to implement policies related to the detention and removal of people charged with, but not convicted of, minor traffic offenses who have no other criminal history or egregious immigration violations.

While Welsh and Venegas wouldn't elaborate much on what exactly they'll be recommending, Welsh did say that she believed that the program's intent wasn't to go after ice cream vendors and domestic-violence victims.

She and Venegas said they believe they can be a voice for the voiceless.

"If I resign right now, nothing will change," Venegas told the audience.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7924 or ccarcamo@ocregister.com or www.twitter.com/thecindycarcamo

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