Thread: Illegal alien advocates aim for delay of Secure Communities program in Connecticut

Immigrant advocates aim for delay of Secure Communities program in Connecticut

Published: Tuesday, February 21, 2012

By Mary E. O'Leary, Topics Editor
moleary@nhregister.com / Twitter: @nhrmoleary

NEW HAVEN — Immigrant advocates plan to deliver a petition to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy Wednesday to urge him to convince federal officials to delay activation of Secure Communities in the state.

An email was sent to police departments in Connecticut on Feb. 14 putting them on notice the controversial data sharing program will kick off Wednesday.

The message to New Haven however, was delayed when it was mistakenly sent to Frank Limon, the former police chief, and officials here found it difficult to get the status of the program confirmed.

Representatives of Yale Law School’s Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic and Junta for Progressive Action and others will gather at the Capitol at 11 a.m. to condemn Secure Communities as a program that has deported a majority of people with either no criminal record or misdemeanor offenses.

Up to now, Secure Communities has only been in effect in Fairfield County.

Secure Communities was originally described by ICE as targeting serious felons and threats to national security and has been criticized by a task force put together by the Department of Homeland Security for its confusing goals and lack of prosecutorial discretion.

The task force, in its September 2011 report said: “Immigration enforcement against traffic offenders and others arrested for only minor offenses poses the greatest risks of undermining community policing,” a major concern of local police departments.

Under Secure Communities, the FBI will automatically share fingerprints with ICE for all arrests. ICE then can send a detainer request to a community to hold an immigrant for 48 hours once their case has been adjudicated.

In September, ICE gave the towns a few days notice the program was kicking off statewide, but it was suddenly delayed.

Michael Lawlor, Malloy’s criminal policy representative, reiterated Tuesday the state will monitor how the program plays out and review any detainer requests on a case-by-case basis.

Junta and the clinic want the governor “to establish guidelines distinguishing between different levels of offenders,” according to a statement it issued Tuesday.

Michael Wishnie, a law professor at the Yale clinic, believes the program is unconstitutional and said if there are no clear guidelines on who would be affected he would not rule out a possible legal challenge.

He said if it goes statewide, he hopes East Haven is carved out of it because of the U.S. Justice Department probe of the town and the indictment of four police officers for targeting Latinos. Ross Feinstein, spokesman for ICE, said he was not aware of any such speculation.

Immigrant advocates aim for delay of Secure Communities program in Connecticut- The New Haven Register - Serving New Haven, Connecticut

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