Thread: Santa Clara County to opt out of Secure Communities program

Santa Clara County supervisors vote to opt out of Secure Communities program
By Tracy Seipel

Updated: 09/28/2010 06:24:06 PM PDT

Santa Clara County Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously voted to pursue opting out of a controversial federal program that enlists local law enforcement in the war on illegal immigrants.

Called "Secure Communities,'' the program gives federal officials access to the fingerprints of people arrested in local communities. Law-and-order advocates say it's led to the deportation of tens of thousands of lawbreakers; immigrant rights and civil liberties groups say it focuses too much on low-level criminals and doesn't protect against racial profiling.

Rolled out in 2008 across the United States, it was only implemented in Santa Clara County in May. Tuesday's vote, which elicited resounding applause by activists, sends "a message to our residents that we are not going to create an atmosphere of fear in our community,'' said Supervisor George Shirakawa, who first brought the issue to the board's attention.

But, he said, the board's vote is "not the end of the issue... there is more work to be done.''

A seven-page memo released last month by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said local jurisdictions can choose not to participate in the program if they notify their state identification bureau -- in this case, the California Department of Justice -- and federal officials in writing.

Santa Clara County Deputy County Counsel Anjali Bhargava said her office now will do just that.

The state attorney general's office had
previously denied a request from San Francisco officials to opt out of the program. But after the ICE memo last month, San Francisco set up a meeting with state and federal officials to re-examine the matter.

That meeting had been scheduled for Oct. 13. But on Tuesday, San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey's office asked both ICE and the state Department of Justice to delay talks until after the November election.

"Secure Communities has become a highly charged issue in the Nov. 2 statewide elections,'' said Eileen Hirst, Hennessey's chief of staff.

Attorney General Jerry Brown, who heads the state Justice Department, is the Democratic nominee for governor, but Hirst said the sheriff's office was not pressured to delay the meeting.

Brown's office has repeatedly declined to comment on the matter. But Santa Clara County's Bhargavi said that in a recent phone call, the Attorney General's office said the state "will not impose an obligation on the county to participate."

However, Bhargavi added, only the federal Department of Homeland Security -- which oversees ICE -- can "de-activiate a jurisdiction" from the program, according to Brown's office.

ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said her agency is willing to meet with Santa Clara County officials. But she also notes that in the four months since the program's activation here, ICE has taken custody of 339 deportable aliens, nearly 75 percent of whom are convicted criminals. That includes 98 people with prior convictions for serious or violent offenses, whom Kice said "might have been released to the streets without this important information-sharing capability.''

Santa Clara County leaders have said they never agreed to participate in the program but inadvertently play a role in it whenever someone is arrested and taken to the county jail. At that point, his or her fingerprints are sent to an identification system that is ultimately downloaded to the state Department of Justice.

That agency, in turn, has a practice of sharing information with the federal government for law enforcement purposes. The county doesn't object to that, but it does protest allowing ICE officials to access the information to verify immigration status. Contact Tracy Seipel at 408-275-0140.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-new ... ck_check=1

Starting to see a pattern here ?

Just what the hell is wrong with these people?
Are the citizens all on zanex?

Feds make it clear: Santa Clara County cant opt out of controversial immigration program

By the Mercury News

Posted: 11/14/2010 12:00:00 AM PST


Santa Clara County supervisors may have voted this fall to opt out of a controversial program that shares booking fingerprints from local jails with federal immigration officials, but the feds this week sent a message of their own: No dice.

Confusion has roiled for months about the Secure Communities program, which the government says has led to the deportation of nearly 47,000 illegal immigrants nationwide since it was introduced just a year ago.

Although the program is meant to focus on undocumented residents who've been convicted of murder, rape and other serious crimes, opponents say it's snared people jailed for low-level offenses such as traffic violations. They also say it's led to racial profiling and has made immigrants afraid to report other crimes, such as domestic violence.

Earlier this year, San Francisco County's sheriff sought permission from Attorney General Jerry Brown to opt out of the program, but Brown -- who at the time was running for governor -- refused, saying the program ensures public safety.

After similar protests in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, as well as in other states, federal officials appeared to soften. A September memo from the U.S. Immigration Control and Enforcement said local jurisdictions could request not to participate.

Federal Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano confirmed as much in a letter to U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, who chairs the House Subcommittee on immigration.


However, in October -- two weeks after Santa Clara County supervisors instructed staff to prepare such a request -- ICE reversed course. It declared that while federal officials would meet with local governments to discuss the issue, in the end, the agreement is with the states, which collect jail booking data and share it with Washington, D.C.

On Tuesday, county supervisors learned that both federal and state officials were turning down the opt-out request.

"It is clear that ICE is not interested in hearing about the program's impact on communities or engaging with localities in good faith," County Counsel Miguel Márquez said in a statement.

Márquez cited ICE reports that showed more than 500 people in the county have been arrested on immigration violations since Secure Communities went into effect here in May. He said a quarter of them had no criminal record.


http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_16599974

I called/emailed the supervisor for my district asking for an explanation as to why they're trying to opt out and here is his response:

"the reason I voted that way, was because ICE was expecting us to do their job for them. It would be very costly for the county and in the long term they may not let us out and then we could as for the funding."

I assume it's a massive burden finger printing these people so ICE can have a look to see if they're in the system?? Sounds like BS to me and smacks of sanctuary county never mind city.

Originally Posted by gcsanjose

I called/emailed the supervisor for my district asking for an explanation as to why they're trying to opt out and here is his response:

"the reason I voted that way, was because ICE was expecting us to do their job for them. It would be very costly for the county and in the long term they may not let us out and then we could as for the funding."

I assume it's a massive burden finger printing these people so ICE can have a look to see if they're in the system?? Sounds like BS to me and smacks of sanctuary county never mind city.

This is complete BS. Everyone gets finger printed.

Secure Communities is no more labor intensive or costly for the sheriff. Every Sheriff, except one in CA, loves it. It's absolutely no extra works. It's a matter of pushing a button and making an electronic inquiry to a federal database. The only difference is the inquiry now searches the ICA database. Presviously, it only the FBI.

The sheriff performs no more additional work and incurrs no addition cost !

Be sure to contact yr district supervisor again and tell him / her, he is absolutely WRONG !


Link: http://www.ice.gov/about/offices/enforc ... /index.htm

Through the Secure Communities strategy, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) improves public safety every day by transforming the way criminal aliens are identified and removed from the United States. This strategy leverages an existing information sharing capability between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to quickly and accurately identify aliens who are arrested for a crime and booked into local law enforcement custody. With this capability, the fingerprints of everyone arrested and booked are not only checked against FBI criminal history records, but they are also checked against DHS immigration records.

If fingerprints match DHS records, ICE determines if immigration enforcement action is required, considering the immigration status of the alien, the severity of the crime and the alien's criminal history. Secure Communities also helps ICE maximize and prioritize its resources to ensure that the right people, processes and infrastructure are in place to accommodate the increased number of criminal aliens being identified and removed.

Originally Posted by topsecret10

Starting to see a pattern here ?

I sure am! Those communites with the most illegal invaders and who could most benefit by adpoting this program are opting out!

added to homepage
http://www.alipac.us/article5838.html

Cities, counties can't stop federal immigration checks

ICE won't honor requests to opt out of Secure Communities — and it won't say why

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-215295-opt.html

County Counsel "Miguel Márquez" = The problem.

Nuff said.