Immigration program delay draws praise, anger

Sheriff wants to activate Secure Communities

Updated: Monday, 11 Apr 2011, 10:48 PM EDT
Published : Monday, 11 Apr 2011, 10:39 PM EDT

BOSTON (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - Four months after Gov. Deval Patrick promised to sign up for a federal program that links state and local police with immigration authorities, one public safety official says he’s tired of waiting for the program to be activated in Massachusetts and wants to take matters into his own hands.

Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph McDonald has asked U.S. immigration authorities for permission to join the Secure Communities program on his own regardless of whether the program is in place elsewhere in the state.

Secure Communities allows fingerprints taken by local police to be automatically checked against immigration databases maintained by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Federal immigration authorities say they want to identify and ultimately deport immigrants with serious criminal records.

Meanwhile, the debate over Secure Communities is heating up as the Patrick administration holds a series of hearings across the state on the program. At a meeting earlier this month in Lawrence, supporters of Secure Communities, including Tea Party members, spoke in favor of it, saying it will catch and deport illegal immigrants, especially those who commit crimes.

“I don't want someone who just raped someone in my town who is an illegal alien,â€