Immigrant Groups Urge Patrick to Shun Immigrant Program

Boston.com
February 15, 2011

Immigrant rights advocates urged Governor Deval Patrick yesterday not to sign Massachusetts on to a federal program that checks the immigration status of people who are arrested.

The governor met with some opponents of the Secure Communities program for about 20 minutes yesterday.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement program allows arrestees’ fingerprint information to be checked against FBI criminal history records and biometrics-based immigration records kept by the US Department of Homeland Security.

Patrick said after the meeting that although no final decision had been made, his administration was under the impression that the state can not opt out of the program.

He said his decision will be based on a series of meetings planned to be conducted statewide.

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