Obama's & Napolitano's Misconceived, Failing Immigration Dragnet: Secure Communities Program
NEW YORK CITY & SANTA FE, NM (By NYT) June
8, 2011
― Add Massachusetts to
the groundswell of states and localities opposing Obama’s and Napolitano's
misconceived and failing immigration dragnet.
Gov. Deval Patrick announced on Monday his state would not participate in Secure
Communities, the fingerprint-sharing program the Obama administration wants to
impose nationwide by 2013.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo halted New York’s involvement last week.
Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois rejected it last month.
They join a long list of elected
officials, Congress members and law-enforcement professionals who want nothing
to do with the program for the simple reason it does more harm than good.
The program sends the fingerprints of every person booked by state or local
police to federal databases to be checked for immigration violations.
It was supposed to focus on dangerous felons.
But it catches mostly non-criminals
and minor offenders, as New York said, “compromising public safety by deterring
witnesses to crime and others from working with law enforcement.”
For years Mr. Obama, like George W. Bush before him, has relentlessly pushed
forward with immigration enforcement schemes while failing to give any relief to
millions desperate to shed their illegal status.
Real reform requires a comprehensive strategy: stricter enforcement plus
legalization for the millions whom it would be foolish to uproot from our
society and economy. As Mr. Obama has driven deportations to record levels, he
has gotten no closer to fixing a failed system. But he has made Republican
hard-liners happy by bolstering the noxious argument all undocumented immigrants
are mere criminals, deportees-in-waiting.
This is a failure of decency and good sense.
It merely punishes and does nothing
to actually come to grips with the problem of illegal immigration. Resistance
has mostly been heard at the ground level, from immigrants and advocates who say
families are being split apart, workers frightened and exploited, the American
dream dishonored. So it’s good to hear powerful Democrats — Mr. Obama’s friends
and allies from large states — telling him with Secure Communities he has gone
way overboard.
What these states’ actions mean, practically speaking, is unclear. States like
New York signed contracts with the Department of Homeland Security to enter
Secure Communities, and now the administration insists they must participate. If
they send suspects’ fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for
criminal checks — as states must and will continue to do routinely — then the
F.B.I. will share that data with the Department of Homeland Security. There is
no way to opt out.
We’ll see about that. The idea the federal government can commandeer states’
resources for its enforcement schemes seems ripe for legal challenge. And it’s
wrong to make state and local police departments the gatekeepers of immigration
enforcement. It should not be up to local cops to drive federal policy by
deciding which neighborhoods and people are the focus of their crackdowns.
We welcome the votes of no-confidence in Secure Communities.
The message is clear and growing louder: Mr. Obama and the homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, have failed the Hispanic community and real police enforcement of catching criminals not innocent victims that tear families apart with their senseless deportations. That something else is real immigration reform that combines a path to legality with necessary measures to secure our borders and deport real criminals who are here illegally.
