NDLON in the News

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Baltimore Mayor Signs Order to Prevent Police from Asking About Immigration Status

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has signed executive order prohibiting police officers from asking people they come in contact with about their immigration status. “Police are working to make our city safe. We are not working as immigration agents, seek ” Mayor Rawlings-Blake said. The announcement comes just days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said it would begin implementing the Se Communities program in Baltimore—the controversial federal program that sends booking information from local jails to a joint database shared by the FBI and ICE. The order bars discrimination against immigrants, and bans the use of city funds to investigate or question people suspected of violating of federal immigration law unless required by the state or U.S. government, [according to WAMU.org] COLORLINES 03.05.2012

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Immigrants, city fear divide over status checks – Baltimore Sun

Julio Cesar Ayala knew he was taking a risk when he decided to overstay his tourist visa four years ago, but he never expected to be threatened with deportation for climbing behind the wheel of the family’s silver minivan. The 53-year-old Salvadoran was stopped by a Baltimore County police officer last year and had to admit that he didn’t have a driver’s license. Hours after he was handcuffed and separated from his 9-year-old granddaughter on the side of the road, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement received an automatic notification of his arrest through a controversial and burgeoning federal program called Se Communities. He spent nearly two weeks in jail for a traffic violation. He now faces a deportation hearing in April. “I’ve never had any problems before,” said Ayala, a Cockeysville resident and grandfather to eight children born in the United States. “I feel trapped.” – Baltimore Sun 03.01.2012

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