Thread: MA. Sen. Brown tells Gov. Patrick to join Secure Communities

Sen. Brown tells Gov. Patrick to join Secure Communities

By Staff reports
The MetroWest Daily News
Posted Sep 14, 2011 @ 03:11 PM
Last update Sep 14, 2011 @ 03:12 PM

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., said today he has sent a letter to Gov. Deval Patrick urging him to work with the Obama administration to ensure Massachusetts’ “full and immediateâ€

Looks like the pressure is building on Patrick.

September 15, 2011 Thursday

Lowell Sun (Massachusetts)

Illegal-immigrant checks are needed

By Chris Camire


BOSTON -- U.S. Sen. Scott Brown yesterday asked the governor to back a federal program aimed at deporting criminal illegal immigrants, just hours after Democrat Elizabeth Warren announced she is running for Brown's Senate seat.

In his letter, Brown urges Patrick for "full and immediate Massachusetts participation" in the Secure Communities program.

"During a Senate Homeland Security committee hearing yesterday, President Obama's Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano described Secure Communities as a key tool in our immigration enforcement efforts to identify those in the country illegally who are also committing other crimes, are fugitives from existing warrants, are multiple illegal entrants or security concerns," Brown writes.

"I agree with Secretary Napolitano, and believe that Secure Communities plays an important role in keeping America safe."

Brown's letter came as Warren, a former Obama administration official and Harvard professor, held a series of splashy campaign events announcing she is seeking the Democrat nomination for Brown's seat.

At a campaign stop in Framingham yesterday Warren said she agrees with Gov. Deval Patrick that the Secure Communities program could discourage immigrants from reporting crimes and increase racial profiling, according to The Boston Herald.

"I think there's a real question about whether or not this bill really makes communities more secure," Warren said. "If people feel like they can't go to the police ... that doesn't make us more secure. I think we really have to think much harder about the ways to make American communities more secure."

Senior Patrick administration officials argue Brown does not understand how the program works, pointing out that the Obama administration recently informed governors across the country that the controversial fingerprint-sharing program will be enacted nationwide by 2013, whether states like it or not.

The Patrick administration currently sends all fingerprints it receives from local law enforcement to the federal government. Under Secure Communities, the fingerprints of every person arrested by state or local police are sent to the FBI.

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