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Report: Majority of Immigrants Turned Over to ICE Are Non-Criminals - New America Media

This week, a new report dealt what may be the greatest blow yet to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)'s strained credibility over its deportation practices. The report, authored by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), determined that the overwhelming majority of people ICE has asked local jails to hold for deportation had no convictions. Researchers also found that ICE has asked local jails to hold hundreds of citizens, in flagrant violation of the Constitution. The troubled agency has strenuously claimed it prioritizes its resources to focus deportations on the most "serious" cases. But nothing could be further from the truth. Hundreds of thousands of separated families know this all too well, and statistics from controversial deportation programs like "Secure" Communities have also highlighted the gap between ICE's rhetoric and reality. But now, we have more extensive evidence of just how out of control ICE is.

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Piden ‘alto’ al programa de Comunidades Seguras - Univision San Francisco

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Push for immigration reform continues Locally in Mass

Immigrant groups say many minority communities in Massachusetts mistrust their local police. Advocates say about 1,100 people are deported from America every year.  They say immigrant communities often fear police officers because a friend or relative could be discovered and deported. The Massachusetts Trust Act is meant to restore trust in law enforcement by keeping immigration issues out of the hands of local police and under the control of the federal government.  The bill ensures all residents, regardless of their immigration status, can contact police without fear of deportation. “When immigrants see that a traffic stop or an arrest from the local police results in their deportation and separation of their family, that creates a lot of distress,” said Sarahi Uribe, Day Laborer Organizing Network Coordinator.

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Critican sistema de revisión de deportaciones

No pasa un día sin que Sara Martínez, una inmigrante ecuatoriana sin papeles, agradezca el poder vivir con su hija Hillary en Estados Unidos. Martínez, de 48 años, fue arrestada en enero del 2011 en una parada de autobús en Rochester, Nueva York, y casi deportada, pero la nueva política del gobierno de priorizar la expulsión de inmigrantes que cometen delitos graves y mantener en el país a los que no representen una amenaza pública y tengan lazos con la comunidad la salvó de tener que separarse de su hija, que es ciudadana estadounidense. Aun así, su caso se prolongó durante un año y cuatro meses, y pudo cerrarse gracias a una larga campaña mediática en la que intervinieron activistas, congresistas y varios grupos de ayuda a favor de la inmigrante, que no tiene historial criminal ayuda como voluntaria a familias de escasos recursos. "Esto es algo que se podría haber resuelto mucho antes, pero no sabe todo lo que tuve que luchar para lograrlo", dijo Martínez a la Associated Press.

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