Baltimore Mayor Signs Order to Prevent Police from Asking About Immigration Status

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has signed executive order prohibiting police officers from asking people they come in contact with about their immigration status. “Police are working to make our city safe. We are not working as immigration agents, seek ” Mayor Rawlings-Blake said. The announcement comes just days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said it would begin implementing the Se Communities program in Baltimore—the controversial federal program that sends booking information from local jails to a joint database shared by the FBI and ICE. The order bars discrimination against immigrants, and bans the use of city funds to investigate or question people suspected of violating of federal immigration law unless required by the state or U.S. government, [according to WAMU.org] COLORLINES 03.05.2012