SB 1070 Ruling Refocuses Attention on Se Communities and ICE

Monday’s Supreme Court decision that allowed a portion of SB 1070 (Section 2B) to stand included the measure empowering the state to require local law enforcement to check the immigration status of suspects who are detained. If an officer stops someone for a non-immigration related reason and suspects that the person may be undocumented, story Arizona law enforcement agents have to determine the immigration status of the person being held. Immigration advocates have argued that this particular provision of SB 1070 has a similar effect to the Obama administration’s Se Communities program, there which deputizes local law enforcement to act in an immigration capacity. And because of the continued expansion of the Se Communities (S-Comm) and notice that participation in federal program is mandatory, the lines between the Arizona law and the Obama policy have become blurred.

Over 100 Arizona Organizations and Notables Call on DHS Secretary Napolitano to End Collaboration with the State of Arizona

 

Mary Rose Wilcox, Pastor Stewart, Puente, ACLU Cite Pending Humanitarian Crisis, Call for Suspension of Se Communities, Termination of All 287(g) Agreements in Arizona

 

PHOENIX, 6/27/2012 — In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling in the Department of Justice SB1070 case that allowed section 2B, the racial profiling section of the law to move forward, more than one hundred Arizona-based organizations and notable individuals sent a letter calling on the state’s former governor, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano, to end DHS’ collaboration with Arizona to prevent a pending “humanitarian crisis.”

What Took Napolitano and Obama So Long in Arizona? – Miami Herald

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Despite Monday’s unfortunate Supreme Court ruling that allows Arizona, at least for now, to go forward with state-mandated immigrant-hunting and racial profiling, there is reason to believe that the tide is turning on the Arizona approach to immigration policies (replicated in Georgia, Alabama and several other states).

Just days before the court ruling, undocumented students pushed the president to announce a new Department of Homeland Security policy potentially offering DREAM-eligible students work permits instead of deportation to countries many of them have never known.

No doubt it was the threat of embarrassment to the president that finally led Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to codify what was common knowledge — that immigrant communities deserve relief from the threat of deportation. The new policy counteracts previous administration claims about DHS’ limited ability to act. It demonstrates that Napolitano has had the authority to relieve suffering all along. Her refusal to do so earlier or do more now shows that only pressure from organized and undocumented communities makes the difference.