Op-Ed: End ICE’s hold on law enforcement agencies
Perla Rodriguez had already become a U.S. citizen when she was pulled over for a traffic violation in Sacramento County. One of the first questions the officer asked her was, “Where were you born?” She was later arrested and – to her shock and distress – held for four days in Sacramento County jail on an immigration “hold” request. Her sister brought her U.S. passport to show the sheriff deputies, but she had to wait to speak to the federal immigration agent who authorized her release from custody. Why was a U.S. citizen held in the county jail on immigration-based detention for four days? Because of the inaccurate database relied on by the federal Se Communities program, called S-Comm. Soon, the Department of Homeland Security is expected to announce reforms to the deeply flawed S-Comm federal enforcement program. But even if it adopted all the recommendations its troubled task force made in September, reforms cannot address the program’s harm to public safety and civil libertie