From AmericasVoice.org:

ICYMI: Anger Toward Secure Communities Deportation Program Reaches New Levels

Washington, DC – Criticism of the Obama Administration’s Secure Communities deportation program has reached a new apex, as elected officials and law enforcement leaders offer serious rebukes of the program and immigrant communities and newspaper editorial boards call for it to be scrapped altogether.  Among the recent developments:   

• Communities Say that “Secure Communities” Actually Creates Insecure Communities: Immigration advocates and community representatives from six major cities are engaged in a campaign of rallies and public hearings to expose the real public safety concerns about this deportation dragnet program.  As the Associated Press reported on last evening’s Los Angeles hearing, “Immigrants who say they were hauled into jail for selling ice cream without a permit and for reporting being the victim of domestic violence had one message for a federal government task force assigned to review an information-sharing effort that gives immigration authorities access to the fingerprints of arrestees.  End the program.”  As Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), stated, “From the beginning, [Secure Communities] has been shrouded in lies and deception, and it is increasingly clear that its stated aim of targeting serious criminals was just a smokescreen for achieving record numbers of deportations for an enforcement-only approach.”

• The More Law Enforcement Learns, The Less They Like Secure Communities: The New York Times reported that Boston’s Police Commissioner Edward Davis “had been a Secure Communities supporter, because his records showed that it had removed many violent criminal immigrants from Boston jails.  But he concluded from the new figures that immigration officials had misled him.”  Said Commissioner Davis, “They specifically told us they would not be removing people with traffic offenses.  They said they wouldn’t and now they have…This is a throwback to the bad old days of the federal agencies before 9/11, when we did not have cooperation.  It is really disconcerting that they are not at all concerned about our precarious situation with immigrant communities.”  Commissioner Davis’s comments echo those of many other law enforcement figures, who recognize the damage that Secure Communities does to effective community policing because it makes immigrant crime victims fearful of any contact with the police.

• Elected Officials Speak Out Against S-COMM – Then Have Their Hands Slapped:  Recently, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unilaterally cancelled its Memorandum of Agreements (MOA) on Secure Communities (S-COMM), an immigration enforcement program of the Obama administration that was sold to state governments as a way to identify and deport serious criminals.  Over the past several months, Governor Patrick Quinn (IL), Governor Andrew Cuomo (NY) and Governor Deval Patrick (MA) suspended their involvement with S-COMM, citing data that the program is deporting large numbers of non-criminals and destroying the relationship between police and the immigrant community that is needed to bring criminals to justice.  However, just as states were making headlines for their opposition to the program, DHS announced it would unilaterally impose this controversial program on all jurisdictions with or without their consent. 

• Editorials Slamming S-COMM and Obama Administration Leadership on Immigration:  The New York Times editorialized over the weekend that the program fits in with “the Obama way on immigration. He talks softly of giving hard-working illegal immigrants a chance to get out of the shadows and get right with the law, but has achieved nothing, through legislation or executive action, that would allow that to happen. All the while, the administration has moved to ramp up deportations, expanding the brutal efficiency of a system that Mr. Obama has acknowledged is broken, arbitrary and unjust.” The Los Angeles Times took a similar tone in their editorial, writing, “The president has publicly called for an overhaul of the nation’s broken immigration system to give those who work hard but are illegally in the country a chance to remain here legally. Yet his administration has failed to curb a program that deports many of the very people he says deserve a chance to stay.  The president’s leadership on immigration has been anemic. He can’t solve the problem alone, but he has done little beyond delivering speeches blaming Congress. At the very least, Obama should shelve Secure Communities and stop making matters worse.”

America’s Voice Education Fund — Harnessing the power of American voices and American values to win common sense immigration reform.

www.americasvoiceonline.org

And this from the RightsWorkingGroup:

August 16, 2011, Washington, D.C. – Today Rights Working Group along with other national and community-based organizations who came together as the National Community Advisory Commission released a substantive report condemning the Secure Communities program and calling for its termination.
 
 The report by the Commission comes on the heels of the Department of Homeland Security’s [DHS] announcement earlier this month that Secure Communities is mandated to be implemented nationwide in 2013 and that joint agreements with state jurisdictions are being terminated.

The Commission was created last month because of concerns that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s [ICE] announced task force would not examine Secure Communities’ impact on racial profiling and concerns about police-community relations and safety raised by immigrant rights, human rights, civil rights and liberties groups. The concerns led to the creation of the National Community Advisory Commission, led by the National Day Labor Organizing Network, to provide information about issues of human rights, civil rights and liberties and safety that are being ignored by the DHS task force.

The formation of the commission led to the drafting of the National Community Advisory Commission’s report, led by the National Day Labor Organizing Network, to take into consideration issues of human rights, civil rights and liberties and safety that are being ignored by the DHS task force.

In addition to recommending that Secure Communities be ended, the authors of the report recommend: that the DHS Office of the Inspector General’s current audit of Secure Communities be completed, that the Department of Justice begin its own investigation into the mysterious role of the FBI in Secure Communities, and that states not be compelled to share biometric data with ICE.
 
 The report includes testimony from former District Attorney of New York Robert Morgenthau, heads of law enforcement, and victims of Secure Communities, such as Isaura in Los Angeles whose 911 call for help resulted in her deportation proceedings.
 
 In contrast to the DHS appointed taskforce, which has failed to enlist the voices of affected communities, scholars, or critics of Secure Communities, this report constitutes a real deliberative and representative review of the program.
  
 The following statement can be attributed to the National Community Advisory Commission:

“This report confirms what immigrant communities have long known. The program called Secure Communities results in the opposite. Entangling local police in immigration enforcement is not just bad policy as the experts testify. Conscripting local police into immigration enforcement has provoked a massive civil rights crisis our country now faces. The only suitable approach is to end Secure Communities.”

“This Administration can no longer continue to stand by Secure Communities,” said Margaret Huang, executive director of the Rights Working Group, a member of the Commission. “By continuing to support this program they are sanctioning racial profiling, eroding the trust local law enforcement agencies have built with communities of color and showing the international community that our immigration system does not respect the basic human rights of all persons in our country.”

The report is available at www.rightsworkinggroup.org

The Commission includes:  American Friends Service Committee, Project Voice New England, Asian Law Caucus, CASA de Maryland, CENTRO de Igualdad y Derechos, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, Detention Watch Network, Grassroots Leadership, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, National Day Laborer Organizing Network, National Immigrant Justice Center, National Immigration Law Center, National Immigration Project of the National Lawyer’s Guild, Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights, Rights Working Group, Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, and We-Count! 

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From the Arizona Republic August 6, 2011:

U.S. immigration officials call off deportation agreement with states

by Daniel González- Aug. 6, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

U.S. immigration officials, who for months have insisted that states sign up to participate in a controversial program to identify and deport immigrants who commit crimes, abruptly changed their approach Friday and terminated agreements with nearly 40 states.

In a letter to governors, John Morton, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the government was terminating Secure Communities agreements with nearly 40 states, including Arizona, after determining that the federal government does not need the agreement or cooperation of state officials to legally run the program.

In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Arizona Republic, Morton said the decision to terminate the agreements would not affect the operation of the program.

Routine fingerprints of crime suspects by local law enforcement are automatically screened by federal immigration authorities.

The Obama administration, as it tries to demonstrate that it is tough on border security and illegal immigration, has pushed to expand the program nationwide.

The decision to terminate the agreements and move forward without them comes after Democratic governors of several states said they would no longer participate in the program amid concerns that it makes immigrants afraid to report crimes to police.

It also shows that the administration is determined to move forward despite objections from immigrant advocates that the program also is deporting thousands of low-level offenders in addition to serious criminals.

“ICE continues to work with its law-enforcement partners across the country to responsibly and effectively implement this federal information sharing capability and plans to reach complete nationwide activation by 2013,” Nicole Navas, an ICE spokeswoman in Washington, D.C., said in an e-mail.

Arizona was among the first states to embrace the program, which was launched in October 2008.

All 15 counties in Arizona are participating in the program, which is currently in effect in more than 1,500 counties in 43 states.

Under the program, the fingerprints of every person booked into jails are shared with the Department of Homeland Security. Immigration officials screen the fingerprints to identify immigration violators and illegal immigrants so that they can be arrested and deported.

Immigration officials said they don’t need the cooperation of state officials because local law enforcement, as a matter of practice, run the fingerprints of crime suspects through an FBI database to see if they are wanted in connection with other crimes.

The FBI will relay those fingerprints to the Department of Homeland Security.

The program has resulted in the deportation of more than 15,000 immigrants from Arizona and more than 101,000 immigrants nationwide.

Through April 30, more than 77,000 immigrants convicted of crimes were identified through the program and removed from the country, according to ICE.

That figure includes more than 28,000 convicted of aggravated felonies such as murder, rape and the sexual abuse of children.

Still, the program has faced mounting criticism from immigrant advocates who said it takes a dragnet approach to immigration enforcement that results in the deportation of traffic violators and other low-level offenders in addition to serious criminals.

An Arizona Republic analysis of ICE data in March found that 60 percent of the illegal immigrants deported nationwide during the first 2½ years of the program had either no criminal record or had been convicted of low-level offenses.

Sixty-six percent in Arizona had no criminal record or were low-level offenders.

Salvador Reza, an immigrant advocate in Phoenix, said he was disappointed that the administration is moving forward with the program.

“The Secure Communities program should be eliminated, not made mandatory,” Reza said. “The program is causing a lot of havoc. It does not differentiate between a killer and a jay walker. It’s tearing apart families.”

In June, Morton said ICE was revamping the program to make sure it focused on the government’s primary goal of identifying and deporting serious criminals, but he emphasized that the changes would not restrict the program from deporting less-serious offenders.

He also said the program was mandatory even though ICE officials earlier had portrayed the program as voluntary and said states could opt out later if they wished.

He said then that the number of criminals and serious offenders deported under the program has been increasing, while the number of non-criminals removed through the program has been decreasing.

COMMENTARY: Would really be nice if the federal government could make the fingerprinting of arrested people work to deport real criminal aliens and not traffic offenders and crime victims.

Press Release from Rights Working Group August 5, 2011:

August 5, 2011, Washington, D.C — Today the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has demonstrated that it has gone completely rogue.  Since rolling out the Secure Communities program in 2008, ICE has signed over 1,200 Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs) with jurisdictions agreeing to participate in the program.

This afternoon, ICE announced, shockingly, that it will unilaterally rescind the MOAs and proceed with Secure Communities without the agreement of state and local jurisdictions.

Contrary to the announcement of John Sandweg, Counselor to the DHS Secretary and Deputy Secretary, the federal statute that Sandweg cites as mandating participation in Secure Communities does nothing of the kind. It requires information sharing but does not require states to participate in this initiative, nor does it require the deportation of migrants who have been arrested but not yet convicted of crimes.

ICE insists that Secure Communities is mandatory and will become fully operational in every jurisdiction of the country by 2013.  Rights Working Group denounces ICE’s actions.

“Across the country, local jurisdictions and states have publicly rejected the Secure Communities program and have told the federal government that they do not want Secure Communities destroying their communities, separating families, and encouraging discriminatory police practices such as racial profiling.  For ICE to thumb their nose at the decisions of elected officials to withdraw from the program is without legal basis and offensive,” said Margaret Huang, Executive Director of Rights Working Group.

Due to the public outcry about the program and the dangers it poses to community policing and safety, as well as the program’s violations of long-held principles of due process and fairness, several states and localities have demanded to opt out of Secure Communities.  Most recently, governors of New York, Illinois, and Massachusetts have informed ICE that their states will no longer participate in the program.

Rights Working Group has long denounced the lack of transparency and accountability in the implementation of Secure Communities. Investigative reporters and documents received through a Federal of Information Act lawsuit unraveled ICE’s inaccurate statements and reversals of opinion on these MOAs—leading Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) to call for an investigation of the initiative.The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has urged the Obama Administration to place an immediate moratorium on Secure Communities.

Said Huang: “Secure Communities keeps local police from fulfilling their core mission of protecting our communities because when local police target people to enforce immigration law, it increases the level of fear and makes it far more difficult to gain community trust.”  The vast majority of undocumented battered women are already reluctant to report their abuse to police for fear of detention and deportation.  Secure Communities and similar programs make it even less likely that migrant witnesses and victims will come forward.

“This Administration can no longer continue to stand by Secure Communities,” said Huang. “By continuing to support this program they are sanctioning racial profiling, eroding the trust local law enforcement agencies have built with communities of color and showing the international community that our immigration system does not respect the basic human rights of all persons in our country.”

Rights Working Group urges DHS to:

•Immediately stop the implementation of Secure Communities and similar programs unless and until meaningful civil rights and civil liberties safeguards are put in place to ensure that racial profiling and other human rights violations are not occurring, including collecting data on the perceived race or ethnicity of the people arrested, the charges that are lodged and the ultimate disposition of the case.

•Terminate Secure Communities in jurisdictions that have chosen to opt out of the program.

•Immediately suspend Secure Communities in jurisdictions with a documented record of racial profiling or where DOJ is actively investigating a pattern or practice of discriminatory policing. 

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Press Release from Uncover The Truth:

Secure Communities Courtroom Battle Comes to a Head
Arguments to be Heard on ICE Attempt to Withhold 
Key Documents from Public

What: Courtroom Arguments in NDLON v. ICE FOIA litigation
Where: Manhattan, Federal District Court.
When: August 11th.

Next Thursday, August 11th, advocates will argue for the release of key documents the agency continues to withhold related to the  Secure Communities opt-out policies.  Upon reviewing certain of the  unredacted documents that are the subject of this challenge, Federal District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin concluded in a scathing opinion, “There is ample evidence that ICE and DHS have gone out of their way to mislead the public about Secure Communities,” and ordered the agency to release certain documents that could not be withheld simply because they might embarrass DHS and ICE.

In the year and a half since the beginning of the FOIA litigation, the documents that have been released so far shed light on a secretive and over-reaching deportation program. As the dangerous scope and impact of the program has been uncovered, a consensus has grown calling for the program’s termination. Governors in Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts have sought to opt-out of the program. 

In an attempt to preempt the embarrassing documents that the court has ordered released and the conclusive results of the OIG investigation to be completed this winter, ICE and DHS have rolled out a series of cosmetic tweaks and a taskforce to “study” the program. These announcements have been widely condemned as insufficient given the civil rights crisis created by the program.

“If what we’ve seen so far tells us anything, it’s that ICE is an agency that cannot be trusted. The court has ordered ICE to release documents that FOIA gives the public a right to access. But the agency continues to stonewall and delay turning them over. The constantly shifting policies and lack of transparency about those policies, truly make it difficult to take what ICE says at face value. ” explained, Bridget Kessler, lawyer for Benjamin Cardozo School of Law. 

Chris Newman of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network added,”DHS has far more interest in the politics of SCOMM than it does in developing a lawful policy that actually serves local communities.   While DHS has moved at breakneck speed to advance a dubious program with media spin, it’s strategy in this litigation has been characterized by one word:  delay.   Thankfully, federal courts- and not DHS- will have the last word and will ultimately compel disclosure of information owed to the public and required by federal law.”

For more background, visit http://uncoverthetruth.org and download a press packet at http://ndlon.org/pdf/scommbrief.pdf

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Press Release from Rights Working Group:

Rights Working Group Joins Over 200 groups To Decry the Department of Homeland Security’s So-called “Reforms” of the Secure Communities Program

July 20, 2011, Washington, D.C.- Today, in a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton, Rights Working Group joined over 200 civil and human rights organizations, law enforcement officials, and faith leaders from across the country to denounce the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) so-called reforms of the Secure Communities program.

On June 17, Morton announced the formation of an advisory group now constituted as the Homeland Security Advisory Council’s Task Force on Secure Communities, which would issue recommendations in 45 days involving the treatment of migrants arrested but not convicted of minor traffic offenses. In addition, Morton issued memos once again calling for prosecutorial discretion and prioritizing serious criminals for removal proceedings.

In response, civil and human rights organizations, law enforcement officials and faith leaders issued a letter to Morton, condemning the narrow scope of Morton’s initiatives as virtually meaningless and failing to address continued concerns of racial profiling and public safety raised by the Secure Communities program.

The Rights Working Group rejects Morton’s process of minor tweaks for the following reasons:

▪ Prosecutorial discretion memos are mainly restatements of current policies.

▪ The DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties does not have the resources, staffing or authority to provide the oversight Morton has called for.

▪ The task force, which is expected to make public its recommendations on July 28th, is narrowly focused and was handpicked by DHS. No impacted community members are a part of this task force.

Secure Communities continues to contribute to the record number of detentions and deportations in 2010. Despite ICE’s claim that the program is designed to keep communities safe, the program has ratcheted up fear of law enforcement authorities in communities of color, making it far more difficult for police to do their jobs, which rely on the cooperation of immigrant communities.

According to Margaret Huang, Executive Director of Rights Working Group, “Secure Communities keeps local police from fulfilling their core mission of protecting our communities because when local police target people to enforce immigration law, it increases the level of fear and makes it far more difficult to gain community trust.” 

As the letter notes, the vast majority of undocumented battered women are already reluctant to report their abuse to police for fear of detention and deportation. 

Secure Communities and similar programs make it even less likely that immigrant witnesses and victims will come forward.

“This Administration can no longer continue to stand by Secure Communities,” said Huang. “By continuing to support this program they are sanctioning racial profiling, eroding the trust local law enforcement agencies have built with communities of color and showing the international community that our immigration system does not respect the basic human rights of all persons in our country.”

Rights Working Group urges DHS to:

• Immediately stop the implementation of Secure Communities and similar programs unless and until meaningful civil rights and civil liberties safeguards are put in place to ensure that racial profiling and other human rights violations are not occurring, including collecting data on the perceived race or ethnicity of the people arrested, the charges that are lodged and the ultimate disposition of the case.

• Terminate Secure Communities in jurisdictions that have chosen to opt out of the program.

• Immediately suspend Secure Communities in jurisdictions with a documented record of racial profiling or where DOJ is actively investigating a pattern or practice of discriminatory policing. 

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USA Today has a story out Border crime stats don’t support mayhem rhetoric

There is just one nasty little problem with claiming the border is safe based on crime stats.

Crimes perpetrated on illegal aliens by other illegal aliens and even American citizens are largely unreported in the state.

There has been a crime wave in Santa Cruz County by border bandits attacking and robbing illegal immigrants. There are even incidents where the bandits attack drug smugglers.

Invariably the victims of these crimes are turned over to the Border Patrol and deported. No victims, no witnesses, no prosecutions.

News account are very similar…the victims don’t know where the attack occured, they wouldn’t be able to identify the criminal….so what do you do?

I have a call into Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada, who is quoted in the USA Today article…wanting to know if the incidents where illegal aliens turn themselves in to the Border Patrol report being raped or robbed… the Border Patrol calls the county to interview the victims….and then Border Patrol deports the victims…are these crime reports even counted in Santa Cruz County?

With the probability that a crime victim…if they are illegal…will be deported if they call the cops…what is the incentive to even report a crime? They don’t.

All the crime stats cited by USA Today show is that urban residents in border cities aren’t experiencing much crime tied to illegal entry or drug smuggling.  It is safe to go shopping in Nogales.

All the criminal stuff is going on out in the countryside….and the nasty stuff happening to illegal aliens at the hands of border bandits…. is not “official”. And it is not well documented because of the systemic bias against counting crimes against illegal aliens.

Is it a crime for a coyote to strand a group of migrants in the desert where they die?

 I think so.

All those dead bodies in the Pima County morgue? Some of them are murder victims. Are they counted by Sheriff Dupnik in his statistics?

If that were counted…the murder rate in Santa Cruz and Pima County would be much higher than is now being reported.

But the rape trees still exist.

Press Release from National Latino Police Officers Association July 12, 2011:

National Latino Peace Officers Association Calls on Secure Communities Task Force
to Fundamentally Overhaul Controversial Immigration Program

Letter Expresses Grave Concern About Program’s Impact on Community Policing, Public Safety

Washington –  As the newly-constituted Department of Homeland Security (DHS) task force on Secure Communities meets this week, the largest minority law enforcement organization in the nation, National Latino Peace Officers Association, sent a letter to task force members calling for overarching reforms to the controversial Secure Communities program.  NLPOA joins numerous elected officials and law enforcement leaders in expressing opposition to the current program, which has strayed far from its stated goal of deporting serious criminals, and is having a dangerous effect on community policing.  

NLPOA President, Edwin Maldonado, writes: “As law enforcement professionals who are also Latino, we have an important perspective to offer.  We chose this profession because protecting the public from crime is our number one priority.  We also understand how to build relationships with members of the Latino community, given our personal experiences and backgrounds.  Unfortunately, we’ve seen firsthand how the relationship between law enforcement and some members of the Latino community has eroded over the last several years, as the federal government and some state legislatures sought to expand police roles in immigration enforcement.” 

The letter describes the damage that Secure Communities has done to trust between law enforcement and the Latino community, and lays out the minimum reforms needed to focus the program on its stated goals.  A letter submitted yesterday to the task force from Boston mayor, Thomas Menino, lays out similar concerns with the program, which has been widely criticized by law enforcement for increasing the fear of local police in immigrant communities and making them less likely to report crimes to the police. 

Please see the text of the letter below; the original letter can be found here.

Date: June 30, 2011
To: Secure Communities Advisory Committee
From: Executive Board, National Latino Peace Officers Association
Re: Recommended Reforms to Secure Communities Program

For more than thirty-five years, the National Latino Peace Officers Association (NLPOA) has been working to achieve a few core objectives.  At the top of that list are keeping America safe, bridging the gap between law enforcement and the Latino community, and eliminating prejudice and discrimination in law enforcement.  Our belief is that these goals are complementary and can be achieved together. 

In its current form, we believe that DHS’ Secure Communities undermines our organization’s core objectives.  That is why we are writing today. 

According to the federal government’s description of Secure Communities, the program was supposed to focus on identifying and deporting undocumented individuals convicted of crimes.  Initially, we were quite supportive of the program.  Over the past year, however, we have become increasingly concerned that Secure Communities is operating far beyond its mandate, and hurting the relationship between police and the immigrant community.  News reports and investigations by outside groups have revealed that many of the people identified for deportation through Secure Communities have no criminal record whatsoever; some were even the victims of crime, who contacted the police seeking protection and ended up in deportation proceedings.  ICE’s own data shows that 60% of people deported through the program committed either in low level offenses, like traffic violations, or no offense at all.

When non-criminal immigrants are deported after having contact with local law enforcement, it sends a message to the community that we are agents of Immigration.  This leads immigrant crime victims and witnesses to think twice before coming to us with information about real crimes.  Crimes go unreported, justice goes unserved, and the entire community suffers. 

As law enforcement professionals who are also Latino, we have an important perspective to offer.  We chose this profession because protecting the public from crime is our number one priority.  We also understand how to build relationships with members of the Latino community, given our personal experiences and backgrounds.  Unfortunately, we’ve seen firsthand how the relationship between law enforcement and some members of the Latino community has eroded over the last several years, as the federal government and some state legislatures sought to expand police roles in immigration enforcement. 

We can and must do better.  A first step toward repairing that trust is to bring the scope of Secure Communities back to its original stated purpose.  On June 17^th, ICE Director John Morton announced several changes to the Secure Communities program.  Although the changes were a step in the right direction, they are not enough.

Among the changes announced was the creation of an Advisory Committee, to address many of the concerns raised in this letter.  We write today to the members of that committee to urge that your recommendations involve real, structural and enforceable changes to the Secure Communities program that bring it in line with its stated mandate and goals.

In order for us to renew our support for the Secure Communities program, it must be reformed to align with its original goals, through the following changes:

1. Tailor the program to focus only on individuals convicted of serious crimes.  Civil immigration enforcement against non-criminals should be the job of federal immigration agents, not state and local police. 
    
2. Clarify the limits of police authority to enforce civil immigration laws.  The immigrant community needs to know that they can work with state and local police to put criminals behind bars and not risk their own deportation. 
    
3. Create accountability mechanisms so these changes aren’t merely voluntary.  The limits on police roles and authority must be strictly respected and enforced by federal, state, and local law enforcement.  This is the only way we can credibly repair the damage done to community policing.  

These are the minimum reforms necessary to ensure that Secure Communities can become a viable program and not compromise the critical trust between local law enforcement and the Latino community. 

The NLPOA is a law enforcement organization that values greatly our role in keeping America safe. We are also an organization of Latinos who know that positive outcomes are only achieved when we work together.  We look forward to working with the Advisory Committee in the coming weeks to achieve reforms to Secure Communities that will restore trust and truly enhance safety in our communities around the country.

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