Government Documents Reveal Pattern of Dishonesty by I.C.E.

The “Secure Communities” program automatically runs fingerprints through immigration databases for all people arrested and targets them for detention and deportation even if their criminal charges are minor, eventually dismissed, or the result of an unlawful arrest…. 
 This week, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), along with the National Day Laborer Organization Network (NDLON) and the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, released internal government documents revealing a pattern of dishonesty regarding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency’s “Secure Communities” (S-Comm) program.

A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit was filed in a New York federal court in April asking for more information about the S-Comm program, which has been shrouded in secrecy since its inception. S-Comm, which currently operates in 544 jurisdictions in 27 states, functions like the controversial 287(g) program and Arizona’s SB1070, making state and local police central to the enforcement of federal immigration law. The program automatically runs fingerprints through immigration databases for all people arrested and targets them for detention and deportation even if their criminal charges are minor, eventually dismissed, or the result of an unlawful arrest.

The documents reveal that ICE has been dishonest with the public and with local law enforcement regarding S-Comm’s true mission and impact. The documents also suggest the program is used to conceal racial profiling, allowing police officers to stop people based solely on their appearance and arrest non-citizens, knowing that they will be deported.

Visit http://www.uncoverthetruth.org to learn more about the documents received and the national campaign to question the efficacy and legality of police and ICE collaboration in their communities, and listen to CCR Staff Attorney Sunita Patel discuss the implication of these documents on The Takeaway, a national morning news program.