Groundbreaking Report Contradicts Homeland Security Departments’ Claims About Jail Deportation Program

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  NDLON Calls on Sec. Napolitano to Stop Fearmongering 

and Start Addressing Civil Rights Crisis in DHS Immigration Policy

 

Chicago, IL. 05.16.2012.

Yesterday, WBEZ released a report on recidivism of individuals released under Cook County’s progressive immigration detainer policy, passed in response to dragnet federal immigration programs. The study “finds no evidence that inmates freed from jail against the wishes of immigration authorities reoffend or jump bail more than other freed inmates do.”  In response, Pablo Alvarado of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network issued the following statement:

Groundbreaking Report Disputes ICE Claims about Jail Deportation Program

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sans-serif; line-height: 22px; border-width: 0px;”>napolitanoMore than eight months since it passed, ask an ordinance that ended the Cook County Jail’s compliance with immigration detainers keeps causing sparks. The detainers are requests that the jail hold inmates up to two business days extra to help federal officials put them into deportation proceedings. Sheriff Tom Dart and some county commissioners are pressing for the ordinance to be scaled back. So is President Obama’s administration. They all say their motive is to keep dangerous criminals locked up. Yet officials offer no evidence whether inmates freed by the ordinance endanger the public more than other former inmates do. A WBEZ investigation sheds the first light.

Immigration central issue in Democratic primary for Travis sheriff

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As he seeks a third term as Travis County sheriff, Greg Hamilton would prefer the race be about issues like putting more deputies on the streets and ways to improve mental health resources for people booked into the county jail. But after criticism from Hamilton’s opponent in the Democratic primary, John Sisson, the focus has shifted almost entirely to one issue: immigration. More specifically, how the sheriff’s office deals with requests from the federal government to hold suspects with questionable immigration statuses for possible deportation. Sisson has emerged as a critic of the way the Travis County Jail handles Se Communities, a program that helps the federal government identify potential deportation targets by comparing fingerprints against immigration databases after they are booked. At the center of the dispute over Se Communities are two interpretations of the federal law behind it. Hamilton points to the part of the law that says if U.S. Immigration and Customs.

Sheriff: Won’t Jail Undocumented Non-Criminals – Watsonville, CA

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Sheriff Phil Wowak told a group of Watsonville residents and leaders that enforcing deportation law was not the job of sheriff’s deputies or police officers in Santa Cruz County during an emotionally-charged forum about Se Communities Wednesday evening. The event—organized by County Supervisor Greg Caput—brought service providers, elected officials and law enforcement together to speak with residents about immigration issues and specifically Se Communities, a federal program that identifies illegal immigrants through county jail systems and deports them. “We do not ask for your citizenship when you are the victim of a crime or the witness to a crime,” Wowak said to those who gathered at the Veteran’s Memorial Hall on East Beach Street for the event. He added that local police should not be checking people’s immigration status; that is a federal issue.

Immigration measure OK’d by Amherst Select Board; heads to Town Meeting

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The Select Board has thrown its support behind a resolution critical of a federal immigration enforcement program and the town’s participation in it – and now Town Meeting will weigh in on the matter. Residents concerned about the Se Communities Act sought to pass the resolution but town officials said the measure could jeopardize state and federal police grants. Town Manager John Musante worked with town counsel Kopelman & Paige to come up with a revised version of the resolution, which states the town’s intention to not participate in federal law enforcement programs related to immigration enforcement. The Select Board Monday unanimously supported the resolution. “It does reflect what Amherst is about,” said Select Board member Aaron Hayden. Ruth Hooke of Precinct 8, who drafted the original version, said she is satisfied with the revision. The intention of the article is to counter the Se Communities program run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which supporte