Los Angeles Resolution Calls for SCOMM OPT OUT

(Los Angeles) The City Council today passed a resolution opposing the discredited “Se Communities” jail deportation program, amid growing calls for the California TRUST ACT, legislation moving in Sacramento which would limit California’s participation, and ensure local police’s ability to opt-out of the program.
The resolution is part of a turning tide against the Obama Administration’s discredited jail deportation program.
Pablo Alvarado, Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network commented, “The tide is turning on the dangerous, dishonest ‘se communities’ program. S-COMM was sold to the American public by DHS under false pretenses. It’s snake oil. It makes communities less safe, it imperils civil rights, and it is poisoning political efforts to reform unjust immigration laws. Today, Los Angeles said very clearly it isn’t ing the snake oil, and the City Council has taken action to prevent the Arizonification of our community.
There is an urgent need for the TRUST Act in California, and an end to the program all together. Se Communities has become a symbol of President Obama’s broken promises on immigration reform. Ending it would be a concrete step to repair that trust, and it would be the first step on a path to immigration reform. ”

Los Angeles City Councilmember Reyes said, “We need to end this ugliness, the meanness of federal policies that are punitive to vulnerable people. This is not the America we want.”
Michel Moore, Assistant Chief of Special Operations of the LA Police Department, reaffirmed, “Undocumented status is of no interest to the department. Se Communities undermines our ability to maintain trust and communication with communities. Trust and communication that’s essential to ensure their safety.”
Councilmember Huizar stated, “We say no thank you to the federal government. We say no to s-comm.”
More than a year ago, Washington DC, Arlington, VA, San Francisco, and Santa Clara, CA sought to opt-out of what was originally represented as a voluntary deportation program, “Se Communities.” The actions of those cities has escalated to a domino effect of states seeking out of the now discredited program, attempting reforms, or pledging not to participate in the case of those yet to sign-on.

In the past month, Governor Quinn of Illinois and Governor Cuomo of New York announced their suspension of the program and the cancellation of the memorandum of agreements between their states and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Observing how S-Comm has been implemented in other states, Massachusetts Governor Patrick announced Monday that his state would not sign on to the program. In California, a bill that would regulate the program and reinforce its voluntary nature, the TRUST Act, recently passed the Assembly and is awaiting vote in the Senate.
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren has said DHS has been “essentially lying to local government” about the program. Her calls for a thorough investigation have corresponded with requests by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to immediately suspend the program.
The Oakland City Council is scheduled to pass a similar resolution this evening.
The National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) is a plaintiff in an on-going FOIA lawsuit against DHS/ICE for access to documents related to the Se Communities Program. NDLON plays a central role in California advocacy for the TRUST Act and coordinates the Turning the Tide campaign….

New Letters Indicate Napolitano’s “Confusion,” a Cover-Up

“The only things ICE is apparently willing to credit to me… are those which they wish to use to imply I was a rogue… I have been made a scapegoat for reasons of political expediency.” – Fired Contractor, Dan Cadman
Detailed letters released today from a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contractor to Representative Zoe Lofgren give rise to grave questions of Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) transparency and integrity in the administration of the controversial ICE Se Communities (S-Comm) program.
Following the release of internal emails as a result of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the Cardozo Law School Immigration Justice Clinic, the federal government has been under pressure to answer questions about the program’s use and scope. The new letters further reveal DHS’ attempts to cover up mismanagement and lies, including questioning the redactions of documents about the opting-out issue that a federal judge ordered federal agencies to release in January.
Attached to Rep. Lofgren’s letter to the DHS Office of Inspector General urging an immediate investigation into S-Comm are two letters from a former ICE contractor, Dan Cadman, who claims responsibility for a majority of S-Comm activations. He wrote, “I believe key elements in the ICE correspondence [to you] are inaccurate and misleading… ICE painted itself into a corner and needed someone to blame.” He enclosed a letter he wrote to ICE Se Communities Acting Assistant Director, Marc Rapp, following his “abrupt” termination: “I will admit to being puzzled as to which documents the FOIA office elected to provide versus those they withheld.” He notes in some instances the FOIA office redacted his name while in others they did not and credits the misrepresentation of the program as the key factor to New York State’s former Governor Patterson’s agreement to participate, observing, “this would be downright amusing, if the subject matter were not so serious.”
Bridget Kessler, attorney at Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, observed, “ICE cannot choose to release documents and redact names selectively, particularly not to hide government misconduct or dishonesty. FOIA gives the public a right to access information about what their government officials are doing and does not allow for agencies to withhold documents simply because they might be embarrassing.”
“The worst part of ICE’s lack of transparency and accountability in the development and deployment of S-Comm is that every day S-Comm tears families apart and spreads fear in immigrant communities across the nation. ICE’s conduct belies a fundamental lack of respect for democracy and the people that are impacted by its harsh policies,” said Sunita Patel, attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights
Sarahí Uribe of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network said, “Se Communities has become an ever larger symbol of President Obama’s broken promises on immigration. We second the call by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. We need a moratorium on this program immediately. Each day ICE exposes itself as a rogue agency that needs to be reigned in. Those responsible for this attempt at a cover-up have no place in the offices of a democracy.”
New York FOIA documents are, for the first time, posted here:
http://uncoverthetruth.org/foia-documents-new-york

Correspondence between Lofgren, Morton, Inspector General, and Cadman (Cadman letters at end of Document): http://ndlon.org/pdf/2011-05cadman.pdf

A Petition for a Moratorium on S-Comm Launched Today at: http://bit.ly/scommice

NDLON v. ICE litigates President Obama’s flagship “Se Communities” biometrics program, currently operating in over 1,200 jurisdictions in 42 states as of May 2011. Rights groups say the program makes state and local policing central to the enforcement of federal immigration law. The program automatically runs fingerprints through immigration databases for all people arrested and targets them for detention and deportation even if their criminal charges are minor, eventually dismissed or the result of an unlawful arrest. The documents released as a result of the litigation have shown widespread internal agency confusion about the program’s voluntary nature as well as the government’s heavy-handed implementation strategy. Mayer Brown serves as co-counsel in the case.

For more information on NDLON v. ICE or to view documents produced by the government, visit the Center for Constitutional Right’s legal case page or www.uncoverthetruth.org.

The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change. Visit www.ccrjustice.org

The mission of the National Day Laborer Organization Network is to improve the lives of day laborers in the U.S. by unifying and strengthening its member organizations to be more strategic and effective in their efforts to develop leadership, mobilize day laborers in order to protect and expand their civil, labor and human rights. Visit www.ndlon.org

The Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law was founded in 2008 to provide quality pro bono legal representation to indigent immigrants facing deportation. Under the supervision of experienced practitioners, law students in the Clinic represent individuals facing deportation and community-based organizations in public advocacy, media and litigation projects. Visit www.cardozo.yu.edu/immigrationjustice

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Advocates Support Representative Zoe Lofgren’s Call for Investigation into Se Communities Program

Today California Representative Zoe Lofgren (16th District) called on the Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, ICE Director John Morton, as well as the
Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security and ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPD) to investigate ICE’s Se Communities fingerprint-
sharing program in two separate letters. Rights groups NDLON, CCR and Cardozo support Lofgren’s call for an investigation into Se Communities and whether local
jurisdictions and states have the ability to “opt out” of the program.
In her letter to the OPD, Lofgren wrote: “It is unacceptable for government officials to essentially lie to local governments, Members of Congress, and the public…It is critically important you thoroughly investigate this matter and that any misconduct result in real consequences.”
Se Communities has been criticized and condemned throughout the country since it began in 2008. Through to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by NDLON,
CCR and Cardozo in April 2010, a series of documents and internal emails have been released by advocates which have shown dishonesty and confusion among federal and
state officials charged with implementing the program.
“It’s a good thing the former governor of Arizona – the one who originally prod Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s 287(g) contract in the first place – doesn’t get to rule by decree
in Washington, DC,” said Chris Newman, Legal Director for National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
For more information on the FOIA lawsuit, please visit http://ccrjustice.org/se-communities or http://uncoverthetruth.org….

California Advances TRUST Act to Stop Arizonification of Jails

Following Lofgren Investigation, former Arizona Governor Napolitano Flies to California to Defend Discredited Program
(Sacramento, CA) The TRUST Act (AB 1081) sponsored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano passed out of the California public safety committee with all Democrats voting to support it. The bill seeks to repair the damaging impacts of the Immigration Customs Enforcement Agency’s “Se Communities” program. The program has been widely discredited across the country due to the blatant dishonesty exposed in a series of internal emails released by advocates who received them only through litigation under the Freedom of Information Act. Stories of domestic violence survivors and high rates of people still presumed to be innocent being placed into deportation proceedings via its finger-print sharing mechanism further demonstrated how the ICE program’s actual operations are far outside of its Congressional mandate. On Tuesday, a US Citizen testified about being falsely jailed because of the program.
Such developments led California Congresswoman Lofgren to call for an investigation into the program and into how involved ICE Director and DHS Secretary Napolitano may have been in its implementation.
Chris Newman of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network explains, “California will not allow the Arizonification of its law enforcement agencies. The TRUST Act is a modest measure meant to bring some transparency and confidence back to law enforcement after ICE’s rogue effort to enlist police as frontline immigration enforcers. We are confident California lawmakers will step up and create civil rights safeguards that protect our community, even if DHS officials are content to fight among themselves about a program no one fully understands.” …