Communities Change When Local Police Enforce Immigration Laws | Commentary : Roll Call Opinion

Should local police be involved in enforcing the nation’s immigration laws? The answer to this question may seem obvious. After all, a law is a law. But the answer is neither that simple, nor that straightforward. The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed that the federal government has exclusive powers to enact and enforce immigration law. But a patchwork of laws and policies call on local law enforcement authorities to participate in immigration enforcement. Key among these is the Se Communities deportation program, or S-Comm. Under S-Comm, when law enforcement authorities take someone’s fingerprints, the prints are sent automatically from the FBI to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement database for an immigration background check. ICE then decides when to send a detainer request to local law enforcement agencies. While the immigrant is incarcerated, ICE decides whether to take further action.

California Trust Act, Se Communities Clash in Immigration Debate

Advocates for immigrants have gained ground in the last six months in their long fight against a U.S. policy allowing federal immigration officials to screen suspects in local jails. Now they are close to notching their biggest victory yet.   In California, order the home of nearly 2.5 million unauthorized immigrants, seek lawmakers this month once again passed the so-called Trust Act, which would block local police from holding suspects for immigration agents when they would otherwise be free to go. Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, has until mid-October to decide whether to sign the law.