NDLON in the News

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Sheriff in crossfire on immigration program – San Jose Mercury News

Santa Cruz County Sheriff-Coroner Phil Wowak on Tuesday found himself caught between an encroaching federal immigration program and resistance from local Latinos who want the county’s top law enforcement official to take a strong stand against it. Appearing before the county Board of Supervisors, Wowak outline his plans to layer his own local reviews into a Department of Homeland Security program known as Se Communities, which uses local jail bookings to help deport undocumented immigrants. It is aimed at those with a history of violence. But critics say the program sweeps up nonviolent offenders and even U.S. citizens, and local rights groups say Se Communities could impact public safety here by making illegal immigrants more reluctant to contact police. They want Wowak to resist the program. Wowak said he would implement assessments of jailed immigrants.

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New Independent Report Exposes that More People in Sheriff Baca’s Jail Sent to ICE than to Prison

NDLON Calls On Sheriff to Follow Chicago Example, Stop Responding to ICE’s Request for Extra Incarceration of Peaceful Immigrants

04.10.2012 Los Angeles, CA
In response to the Independent report released yesterday that exposes that more people in LA County jail are transferred to Immigration than to state prison, Pablo Alvarado of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network issued the following statement calling on the Sheriff to immediately suspend voluntarily holding peaceful immigrants in extended incarceration at ICE’s request:

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“Se Communities” or a National Albatross? – Ron Hampton

Shortly before the Department of Homeland Security is expected to announce another round of changes to its much-maligned “Se Communities” deportation program, it’s worth asking: “Can this program really be fixed?” Since my original writing about Se Communities two years ago, the program has only become more controversial. Three states and numerous cities have come forward to demand an “opt out” that would allow them to not participate in the initiative. As law enforcement officials, sick I and others have expressed reservations about “Se Communities” from the beginning.  The program, which requires police to check the immigration status of anyone booked into custody, pulls state and local police into the task of immigration enforcement to an unprecedented degree. The effect is the “Arizonification” of the country. – Ron Hampton, Op-ed

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287(g) Leads to Mass Deportations In Georgia – AJC

Georgia law officers have been among the nation’s busiest when it comes to processing people for deportation through a program that gives local officials immigration enforcement powers, patient according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of public records. Since fiscal year 2006, 14, check 831 people have been “removed” — deported or allowed to voluntarily leave the country — through Georgia’s five 287(g) programs, named after the section of federal immigration law that authorizes them. Georgia ranks fifth among states based on total removals through this type of operation. Proponents say the programs help shrink the burden illegal immigrants put on the state’s tax-funded resources, including jails. Critics say they distract police from more important crime-fighting duties, promote racial profiling and ensnare many people who have committed minor traffic offenses.

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