Author Archives: NDLON Staff

Divisive Se Communities measure rolls out in Vt. Tuesday

A top federal law enforcement official confirmed for New England Cable News Monday that the Vermont rollout of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s information-sharing program known as Se Communities will happen Tuesday.  It is already operational in most of the country, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, official told NECN. At the Burlington, Vt. offices of the advocacy group Migrant Justice, Danilo Lopez worried about the measure’s implementation. “Many more people will be deported because of this program,” Lopez predicted. ICE insists Se Communities will be a helpful tool to share fingerprint records between the FBI and Homeland Security, targeting threats to public safety from people who are in this country unlawfully. A fingerprint gathered during an investigation of a minor crime may reveal a more serious history of offenses, the ICE official said.

S-Comm Sparks Protest in Vermont

A federal program aimed at identifying illegal immigrants who are arrested for crimes expanded to Vermont on Tuesday, touching off opposition from advocacy groups for immigrants. Those groups say the Se Communities program was implemented by the federal government in Vermont without consulting state officials, ed and they fear it will help destroy a trust that most of the state’s law enforcement community has worked to build with the immigrant community. The nationwide program, now in 46 states and Puerto Rico, enables police to check the immigration status of suspected illegal immigrants by sharing their fingerprints with the Department of Homeland Security. The group Migrant Justice held a protest outside the Vermont campaign headquarters of President Barack Obama in Burlington on Tuesday afternoon with about 40 people. They started to march shortly before 6 p.m.

Amherst passes law in opposition to Se Communities – WWLP.com

With a nearly unanimous vote at Monday’s town meeting, the Town of Amherst decided to opt out of the controversial Se Communities Program. Se Communities is a program designed by the Department of Homeland Security to crack down on illegal immigrants who commit crimes, as well as those who continually violate immigration laws. By passing Article 29, Amherst residents chose not to participate. Through the resolution, community members said that they wanted to make sure local law enforcement agencies could not stop anyone randomly just to check their immigration status. Amherst’s resolution specifically states, “Municipal employees of the Town of Amherst, including law enforcement employees, shall not monitor, stop, detain, question, interrogate or search a person for the purpose of determining that individual’s immigration status.”

Cabildeo por el TRUST Act en Sacramento – Univision

Vista, CA Father’s Death in AZ Desert Shows Need for TRUST Act

A Vista man died along the U.S. border with Mexico last month trying to return to his family after being deported. The body of Alfonso Martinez Sanchez, 39, was found on the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation, his family and authorities said. The reservation stretches along the Arizona border and is a frequent route for thousands of migrants attempting to cross the border illegally. It is an unforgiving environment, part of the Sonoran desert, where temperatures can often soar to more than 100 degrees. Martinez was trying to return to his wife and five U.S.-born children, ages 5 to 18, said Juana Garcia Martinez, his wife. Martinez was the main bread winner and now the family is struggling to make ends meet, she said. “He knew that we needed him,” Garcia said. “He wanted to be here.”

Immigrants Lobby for TRUST Act in Sacramento

A morning rally is planned before the various groups fan out to talk with legislators. The rally, which will take place at the capitol building will include greetings and speeches from Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-SF and Sen. Kevin De Leon, D-LA. Dilkhwaz Ahmed traveled to Sacramento on Sunday to get a head start on the activities. She is executive director of El Cajon-based License to Freedom, which provides support services to refugee and immigrant survivors of domestic abuse. She is prepared to share client stories with decision makers who will consider AB 1081, a bill dubbed “TRUST Act,” which would allow communities to opt out of the federal immigration “Se Communities” program until county officials choose to rejoin under amended agreements that would provide protection for some immigrants including those who are victims of domestic violence. The program, currently in place in every country across the state, scans fingerprints to check for legal status and generally allows..

Obama’s broken immigration promise – Salon

The Obama administration claims that it is deporting record numbers of illegal immigrants while focusing on those with criminal records. But new data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows that the number of deportation orders has declined dramatically since last summer and non-criminals comprise a growing percentage of those expelled from the country. That wasn’t supposed to happen under a policy of “prosecutorial discretion” announced by ICE director John Morton last June. The goal of the policy, announced with much fanfare in the Spanish language media, ask was to spare “longtime lawful residents” from deportation and to focus on criminals. Since then, the adminstration has deported many fewer non-criminal aliens. But non-criminals remain the vast majority of those deported. And those with no criminal record now actually comprise a slightly larger percentage of those forced to leave the country than they did before Morton’s announcement.