Yesterday the Obama administration announced, in apparent reaction to Wednesday’s National Day of Action by Latino activists protesting deportation of thousands of illegal immigrants, a change to the "Secure Communities" policy to include reviews for criminal conduct.
According Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the amendment will mean those who are in the process of deportation, numbering approximately 300,000, will now have the chance to have their cases reviewed on a one-by-one basis.
By focusing on criminal immigrants who pose no threat to national security or public safety, DHS will be able to prioritize their resources on illegal aliens who represent an actual threat to the general public. But the most controversial element is that it will allow those who are allowed to stay to apply for a work permit.
We applaud this long overdue and common-sense reform to the program.
Progressives point to a sobering assessment from the American Immigration Lawyers Association how the Secure Communities program unfairly targeted those with mere traffic violations or minor misdemeanors (see: “Immigration Enforcement Off Target: Minor Offenses with Major Consequences”). Here is a very typical example from the report detailing how ICE has been targeting undocumented aliens with no criminal background:
In May 2011, a man was burning leaves on his property in New Mexico when a sheriff’s deputy approached him. The man explained that city officials had told him he did not need a permit to burn leaves in his yard. The deputy then asked him twice for his social security number and the man explained that he did not have one. The sheriff wrote a citation for burning leaves. Two hours later, plainclothes ICE agents arrived at his house and took him into custody. He was removed later the same day. He had lived in the U.S. for over 15 years.
In February we warned our readers that DREAM Act-eligible students and others could easily be caught up in deportation proceedings after New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez authorized immigration checks of anyone arrested in the state. Although there is no evidence any local high school or UNM students were actually deported, it was only a matter of time before this occurred.
Under Secure Communities, fingerprints of those arrested by local police are shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for possible deportation. However, ICE recently mandated that the Secure Communities program is mandatory so states are no longer allowed to opt out of the program, in effect banning sanctuary cities like Santa Fe.
Conservatives, including Republican Representative Lamar Smith and others, are calling this change “back-door amnesty” in an election year to get votes from Latinos. And Roy H. Beck, president of the restrictionist group NumbersUSA, is against the new policy because it authorizes work permits for those who are released, further eroding job prospects of American citizens already out of work due to the Great Recession.
And the majority of comments from readers of recent articles on the subject favor deporting any illegal alien at any age for any reason whatsoever. Of course this is not a scientific poll, but it does indicate that there seems to be substantial support for the far right's set of values (but not those of the church).
This change is highlighted by the fact that illegal Antonio Diaz Chacon, rescuer of the 6-year old kidnapping victim here in Albuquerque, could be deportable under the previous rules.
What do you think? Do you support deportations of U.S. high school graduates brought illegally into the U.S. as small children and others like Antonio Chacon?
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