Immigrants and Citizens Sue L.A. County for Illegal Detentions

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“Se Communities” Immigration Holds Lead to Illegally Prolonged Detentions of Tens of Thousands

 

(Los Angeles) – Six people have brought a landmark class-action lawsuit against Sheriff Baca and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) on grounds they are or were illegally detained in the jails and stations of Los Angeles County Jail for days, weeks, or months after they were entitled to be released because they are the subject of “immigration holds.”  Immigration holds, sometimes called “immigration detainers,” are notices issued by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requesting that an individual in local custody be held pending further action.  Unlike warrants, they are issued without any judicial determination of probable cause, and they are frequently issued in error. 

Day Laborers React to Chief Beck’s announcement on SCOMM reforms in wake of TRUST ACT Veto

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(Los Angeles),  In reaction to Los Angeles Police Chief Beck’s announcement today, Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and principle sponsor of the TRUST Act,  issued the following statement:
 
“We look forward to working with the Police Chief, the Mayor, the City Council, and the Police Commission to craft a policy that protects Los Angeles from the disruptions caused by the dangerous  Se Communities program.   In 1979, then Police Chief Daryl Gates wisely implemented Special Order 40 to prevent police from being entangled in civil immigration enforcement.   That policy has been undermined by Se Communities, and it is time for Los Angeles to take appropriate action.  

Gov. Jerry Brown Misses by Vetoing TRUST Act – latimes.com

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This year’s legislative battle over immigration seemed to come to a draw when Gov. Jerry Brown signed one key bill but vetoed another. Immigration rights advocates, however, said Monday that the political give-and-take was largely an illusion. They lost. The bill that Brown signed, which lets some young immigrants have driver’s licenses, allows nothing beyond what is permitted under a new federal program granting a two-year reprieve from deportation. But the bill that Brown vetoed — the Trust Act — was among the most closely watched pieces of immigration legislation in the country. It would have barred local law enforcement officials from cooperating with federal authorities in detaining suspected illegal immigrants, except in the cases of serious or violent crime.

Loas y críticas al gobernador de California – laopinion.com

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El veto del gobernador de California Jerry Brown al proyecto de ley TRUST, que hubiera limitado la cooperación de la policía local al programa federal Comunidades Seguras, ha logrado que sus usuales amigos en las agrupaciones proinmigrantes lo llamen traidor y que tradicionales críticos, como la organización antiinmigrante FAIR, lo elogien calurosamente. “El veto del gobernador es una rara victoria para los ciudadanos amantes de la ley sobre el poderoso ‘lobby’ (cabildeo) de los protectores de los ilegales”, dijo Dan Stein de FAIR, organización que lucha contra cualquier semblanza de reforma migratoria. “Por una vez, el sentido común ha prevalecido sobre un acto sin consciencia de la Legislatura que hubiera puesto en peligro la seguridad pública de California”. Para Pablo Alvarado, director de la Red Nacional de Jornaleros (NDLON), el veto de Brown al proyecto de ley AB1081 fue una “traición” a los grupos proinmigrantes y latinos que lo han apoyado en sus campañas.

Mistrust in California – NYTimes.com

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Gov. Jerry Brown of California dropped the ball on Sunday when he vetoed the Trust Act, a bill aimed at keeping harmless immigrants out of the deportation dragnet — not out of misguided compassion, order but to bolster public safety. The police in immigrant communities depend on the cooperation of witnesses and victims; when local officers become federal immigration deputies, fear overrides trust and crime festers. Mr. Brown’s late-night veto bitterly disappointed immigrant advocates, law-enforcement officials, religious leaders and others who had urged him to take a stand against pressure from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is deporting people at a blistering pace and wants to keep doing so. The agency’s Se Communities program has turned local police into handmaidens of federal immigration policy; people arrested are automatically subjected to immigration checks, leading to the deportations of tens of thousands who have no criminal records or are only minor offenders.

Jerry Brown disappoints – laopinion.com

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Governor Jerry Brown’s veto of the TRUST Act means political considerations triumphed over protecting California’s immigrant community from the arbitrary enforcement of federal law. The enactment of the state law would have probably led to a confrontation in court with the Justice Department, since it established state regulation of a federal program, Se Communities. The governor apparently did not understand that this was a fair battle, one worth fighting. From the beginning, the federal program-intended to detain and deport dangerous undocumented immigrants-was disorganized and confusing about aspects of its implementation and rules establishing the duties and responsibilities of cities, counties and states. The situation worsened when some law enforcement agencies interpreted the program strictly, contradicting the idea of focusing on the most dangerous individuals, and wasted time and resources on irrelevant cases.

Calif. gov. OKs driver licenses for illegal immigrants, rejects ‘anti-Arizona’ legislation – The Washington Post

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Meanwhile, Brown vetoed AB1081, which could have protected illegal immigrants from deportation if they committed minor infractions. The bill has been dubbed “anti-Arizona” legislation, a reference to that state’s immigrant identification law. The so-called Trust Act would have let California opt out of some parts of a federal program that requires local law enforcement officers to check the fingerprints of people they arrest against a federal immigration database and hold those who are in the country illegally. It would have barred local law enforcement officers from detaining suspects for possible deportation unless they are charged with serious or violent felonies.

Brown misses opportunity with TRUST Act

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Gov. Jerry Brown signed a new law that will allow hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses and vetoed another that would have restricted sheriffs from helping federal authorities detain undocumented Californians for potential deportation. His actions, announced Sunday as the deadline neared to finish work on nearly 1,000 bills sent to him by the Legislature this year, followed an intense week of protests, prayer vigils and lobbying by immigrant advocacy groups. The governor also revived a tax break for Hollywood, allowed juvenile killers serving life in prison a chance for release and outlawed intended to turn gay children straight. The laws take effect Jan. 1. The immigration bills sparked the most controversy.

TRUST Act Vetoed: California Gov. Jerry Brown Calls Limits On Immigration Enforcement ‘Flawed’

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California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill late Sunday to make California the “anti-Arizona” on immigration enforcement, after a long fight that took the bill into the national spotlight as a possible rebuke to a program the Obama administration has made key to its effort to remove undocumented immigrants. Brown did not announce his decision on the bill until close to midnight, Pacific time, as part of a spate of bills — including one he did sign to allow driver licenses for some young undocumented immigrants — that Brown needed to address before the end of September. Even a few hours before, advocates weren’t sure which way it would go, but in the end Brown ruled it “fatally flawed.” The TRUST Act, which was originally introduced by state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, would have limited the state’s law enforcement’s interactions with federal immigration enforcement efforts. It specifically would have restricted California’s cooperation in the Se Communities program

Day Laborers Denounce Governor Brown’s Veto of TRUST Act, Pledge to Continue Fighting President’s Se Communities Mass Deportation Program

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Los Angeles – September 29, 2012.In response to Governor Brown’s veto of the TRUST Act (AB 1081), Pablo Alvarado, executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network issued the following statement:   “By vetoing the TRUST Act Governor Brown has failed California’s immigrant communities, imperiling civil rights and leaving us all less safe. The President’s…