Thread: Milford selectmen want talk with ICE

Milford selectmen want talk with ICE

By Brian Benson, Daily News staff
Milford Daily News
Posted Sep 13, 2011 @ 01:17 AM
Last update Sep 13, 2011 @ 10:35 AM

MILFORD — Selectmen decided last night to ask for a meeting with federal immigration representatives in the wake of the death of Matthew Denice.

"I think we need to bring those people here," said Selectman Brian Murray, who proposed asking Town Administrator Louis Celozzi and Police Chief Thomas O'Loughlin to attempt to arrange a meeting with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "We need to explain to them in very explicit and frank terms what is going on in the town of Milford."

Denice, 23, of Milford, was killed last month when police said Nicolas D. Guaman, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador who was driving drunk, struck him on his motorcycle. The incident sparked anti-illegal immigration protests in Milford including a demonstration outside Town Hall last Wednesday before a meeting with representatives of the Ecuadorean government.

Murray said he learned recently that there had been a passenger in the pickup truck who ICE had determined was an illegal immigrant. ICE took that man into custody but later released him, Murray said.

"To me, it's just unimaginable that federal authorities would have an illegal (immigrant) and not take action on that individual," he said.

Selectman William Buckley said ICE or the town should meet with businesses to remind owners of their legal obligation not to hire illegal immigrants.

Buckley also asked Town Counsel Gerald Moody to produce an information sheet giving residents tips to make sure they do not hire a contractor who uses illegal immigrants and see if there was a way the board could ensure businesses it issues permits to are only hiring legal workers.

Buckley asked Beatriz Stein, Ecuador's consul general in Boston, to send a letter with selectmen and the Denice family to Gov. Deval Patrick urging him to support the Secure Communities program, which would facilitate sharing of fingerprint data between local police and ICE through the FBI.

Mary Beth Heffernan, secretary of the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, wrote in a letter to Celozzi earlier this month that federal authorities have determined that states have no role in deciding whether to implement Secure Communities.

"It has been, and will continue to be the policy of this administration that undocumented immigrants convicted of serious crimes will be subject to deportation," she wrote, noting all fingerprints received by the state from local police are sent to the federal government regardless of a person's immigration status.

The state has said that it sends fingerprints to the FBI, and the FBI could share them with ICE if it chose to do so.

Celozzi said O'Loughlin has asked federal authorities to include Milford in its Secure Communities program.

"I think the board continues to do whatever is possible," board Chairman Dino DeBartolomeis said. "We'll try to get everything going within reason."

In other business, the board awarded a contract to D&F Afonso Builders of Milford to complete the third phase of the Prospect Heights street improvements.

D&F Afonso bid $186,000 to complete the work, which includes redoing drainage on part of Water Street and paving, rebuilding sidewalks, installing granite curbing and replacing drainage systems on Prospect Street, Community Development Director Susan Clark said.

Brian Benson can be reached at 508-634-7582 or bbenson@wickedlocal.com.

http://www.milforddailynews.com/archive ... z1XqgzRyWs

RELATED

Selectmen Want Meeting with Immigration Officials

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-249865.html