Obama Policy on Illegal Immigrants Is Challenged by Chicago – NYTimes.com

Just weeks after the Supreme Court largely reaffirmed the Obama administration’s immigration enforcement powers in its legal battle with Arizona, federal officials are facing a new, politically tricky clash with local authorities over immigration, this time in Chicago. At a news conference on Tuesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he would propose an ordinance that would bar police officers from turning over illegal immigrants to federal agents if the immigrants do not have serious criminal convictions or outstanding criminal warrants. In contrast to the Obama administration’s long-running confrontation with officials in Arizona, who are mostly Republicans, the latest challenge to the president’s immigration policies comes from Mr. Emanuel, his former chief of staff, and from other Democratic allies in President Obama’s hometown. “If you have no criminal record, being part of a community is not a problem for you,” Mr. Emanuel said, speaking at a high school library in Little Village…

California Senate passes ‘anti-Arizona’ bill to limit federal detainers on illegal immigrants

The California Senate has passed a so-called “anti-Arizona” bill to prevent racial profiling by police and allow local law agencies to ignore federal requests to detain nonviolent illegal immigrants for deportation, a state lawmaker said. The proposal, called the California Trust Act, would be the first state law imposing “detainer reform,” though local governments in Illinois, Wisconsin and elsewhere have enacted similar measures, according to California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano’s office. No other states have legislation similar to what is now being considered in California, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The California bill would set standards that allow police not to respond to requests from U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement to detain an illegal immigrant — except in cases where the immigrant is a serious or violent convicted felon, Ammiano said in a fact sheet about his proposed bill. Ammiano is a Democrat from San Francisco.

U.S. citizen sues over detention under Se Communities program

A computer spet is suing the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security after a controversial fingerprint-sharing program incorrectly identified him as an illegal immigrant and authorities ordered him detained in a maximum-security prison. The lawsuit is the first legal challenge by a U.S. citizen to the Se Communities program, which the Obama administration has expanded nationwide over the objections of immigration advocacy groups and Democratic governors in Illinois, New York and Massachusetts. Under the program, fingerprints obtained when local authorities arrest a suspect are automatically checked against immigration databases as well as FBI criminal databases. U.S. immigration agents are notified if the results indicate an immigration violation. When James Makowski, a Chicago-area resident who repairs computer networks for companies, pleaded guilty in December 2010 to a felony charge of selling heroin, he was sentenced to four months at a “boot camp”

California Senate OKs bill that would blunt deportation efforts – latimes.com

A bill that that would restrict California law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement efforts passed the state Senate on Thursday. The Trust Act would prohibit police and sheriff’s officials from detaining arrestees for possible deportation unless the suspects have previous convictions for a serious or violent felony. The measure is aimed at blunting federal immigration enforcement, in particular the Se Communities program, under which fingerprints of arrestees are shared with immigration officials who issue hold orders. The legislation now goes to the Assembly, where even opponents say it is likely to pass. If signed into law, the measure would mark another in a string of state legislative efforts on behalf of California’s estimated 2.55 million illegal immigrants. The bill follows several months of controversy over whether Se Communities can be imposed on local jurisdictions, some of which adopted rules to keep local law enforcement separate…

California Senate OKs bill that would blunt deportation efforts – latimes.com

A bill that that would restrict California law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement efforts passed the state Senate on Thursday. The Trust Act would prohibit police and sheriff’s officials from detaining arrestees for possible deportation unless the suspects have previous convictions for a serious or violent felony. The measure is aimed at blunting federal immigration enforcement, in particular the Se Communities program, under which fingerprints of arrestees are shared with immigration officials who issue hold orders. The legislation now goes to the Assembly, where even opponents say it is likely to pass. If signed into law, the measure would mark another in a string of state legislative efforts on behalf of California’s estimated 2.55 million illegal immigrants. The bill follows several months of controversy over whether Se Communities can be imposed on local jurisdictions, some of which adopted rules to keep local law enforcement separate…

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement program faces novel challenge

We’ve been hearing a lot about how immigration enforcement intersects with local law enforcement. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an Arizona requirement that police officers check the immigration status of people they stop for other reasons. Now we’ll hear from our West Side bureau about a suburban Chicago man who got tangled up with immigration enforcement after a arrest. He has filed a suit that offers a novel challenge to one of President Obama’s key immigration-enforcement programs. MITCHELL: There’s no doubt James Makowski of Clarendan Hills did something illegal. In 2010 police caught him with heroin and he pleaded guilty to that. A judge approved him for a state-run boot camp. But that’s not where Makowski ended up. MAKOWSKI: I thought I would be home in 120 days but — then after I get a note back from a counselor, view after I’d asked about when I’d be shipping to boot camp — she said that I was ineligible for boot camp due to an immigration detainer.

Arizona SCOTUS Ruling Frames NY “Se Communities” Debate

NEW YORK – Just one day after the U.S. Supreme Court’s split decision on Arizona’s controversial immigration law, a new education campaign is being launched today to deal with local fears surrounding enforcement on Long Island of federal immigration rules, particularly the Se Communities immigration program, known as S-com. Ted Hesson, online editor for Long Island Wins, says that for now the portion of the Supreme Court ruling that upholds the “show me your papers law” applies to Arizona police, but his group is concerned because there have been plenty of copycat laws around the nation. “Whereas S-com is sort of de facto authorizing police to act as immigration agents on the local level, this is actually requiring the police who are out there to be doing this as part of their job.” The Supreme Court ruled that the remaining three provisions of Arizona’s immigration law violate the Constitution.

Is your home state being Arizonified? – UU World

A major reason for holding a Justice GA in Arizona has always been so that participants could learn how to take lessons home to confront anti-immigrant measures wherever they live. Sarahi Uribe At an education session Thursday titled “Confronting Arizonification in Our Own Backyard” Sarahi Uribe, Angie Junck, and the Rev. Craig Roshaven shared strategies for doing just that. Uribe is with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, Junck with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, and Roshaven is director of the UUA’s Witness Ministries staff group. Roshaven noted the UUA is developing a campaign to challenge the federal government’s Se Communities program, which deports many people including some who are arrested for minor law violations.

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.

Students Press for Action on Immigration – NYTimes.com

Young illegal immigrants, saying President Obama has done little to diminish the threat of deportations they face despite repeated promises, have started a campaign to press him to use executive powers to allow them to remain legally in the country. The campaign is led by the United We Dream Network, the largest organization of young immigrants here illegally who would be eligible for legal status under a proposal in Congress known as the Dream Act. The young people are among the most visible activists in a growing immigrant movement. Their push to focus pressure on the White House reflects deep frustration with Congress for its lack of action on the legislation and with the administration for continuing to deport illegal immigrant students, although Mr. Obama says he supports them.