Debate Over "Secure Communities" Continues in Jamaica Plain

Secure Communities, a program regarded by federal agencies as a way to protect citizens, continues to draw criticism from residents and local organizations, who claim the program promotes racial profiling and diminishes trust between civilians and law enforcement officials.

“In general, the more you target a group, the more victimized they feel,” said Moira Lucey, program director at the in Jamaica Plain. “As an organization that works with political refugees, we meet a lot of people that already come to this country with good reasons to mistrust police and authorities.”

Jamaica Plain is home to a wide diversity of people, including many immigrants. In Boston as a whole, 26 percent of residents were born outside the U.S., according to the 2000 Census.

Moira said programs like Secure Communities “further alienate” people who come to the country to escape persecution in their native countries.

Secure Communities requires local jurisdictions to share fingerprints of arrested individuals with the FBI. The fingerprints are subsequently sent to the Department of Homeland Security to be checked on immigration databases. The department then determines if the individual should be removed from the country.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency states that the program aims to remove unlawful immigrants, placing removal priority on those that have committed felonies and pose threats to public safety.

The program, which started as a pilot program in Boston in 2008, is now active in 1,508 jurisdictions across the country, according to ICE statistics as of June 30.

ICE estimates that 86,616 convicted criminal aliens have been removed from the U.S. through the program.

In Massachusetts, where only one county is currently participating, 169 convicted criminals have been removed, according to ICE.

The agency expects Secure Communities to be enforced in all jurisdictions nationwide by 2013.

ICE states that as the program grows nationally, the agency is "taking additional steps to ensure that it can execute its mission while continuing to respond to any potential civil rights concerns."

Initially, the Department of Homeland Security requested state governors to sign a Memorandum of Agreement, acknowledging participation in the program. However, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick joined the governors of New York and Illinois in a refusal to sign the agreement, saying that Secure Communities does not reflect its stated objectives.

This month, John Morton, director of ICE, informed governors that states’ approval was not necessary for the program to operate.
U.S. Representative Michael E. Capuano has expressed his concerns about the program, saying it should not be a federal mandate.

Capuano, who represents Jamaica Plain, said in a statement that he believes “states and cities should not be compelled to do this if local elected officials and law enforcement authorities object. Federal immigration resources should be devoted to the apprehension and detention of dangerous criminals, terrorists, and human traffickers.”

Some minority advocacy groups are apprehensive about the program and blame President Barack Obama for his lack of action regarding immigration reform.

Recently, members of presente.org, a national organization devoted to increasing minorities’ political voice, delivered petitions to the Democratic Party Headquarters in six states, including Massachusetts.

The petitions expressed “outrage over Obama’s recent and controversial decision to aggressively expand the use of local police officers as immigration agents through the highly controversial federal program know as Secure Communities,” according to a press release.