by Gloria Pazmiño and Debralee Santos

Struggle lays ahead for New York State’s immigrant community. That was the consensus during a discussion about the controversial federal program known as Secure Communities during an immigration forum held by the Barack Obama Democratic Club (BODC) in Northern Manhattan on Wed., Nov. 18.

Secure Communities is under fire for requiring local governments and police to share information with the federal government and Homeland Security. The information swap enables the agency to target undocumented immigrants or resident immigrants who are not yet citizens, and make them deportable for committing minor offenses. It comes on the heels of legislation passed during the Clinton administration that increased the types of criminal offenses which immigrants can be deported for, no longer restricting the offenses to just violent crimes.

“Washington Heights, with its large Dominican population, acutely feels the impact of deportation as more than 50,000 Dominicans have been deported from the U.S. since the passage of the harsh 1996 immigration laws,” said Mizue Aizeki, a community organizer for the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights with offices in Northern Manhattan and the Bronx.

The issue of unfair deportations made big headlines last month when Northern Manhattan cab driver Eligio Valerio, a legal permanent resident since 1979, was detained and put on a deportation list based on a gun possession charge that dated back to 1982, for which he served three years of probation. Through the support of lawyers and elected officials Valerio was able to avoid deportation, but his case has served as an example of a system that some have described as out of control.

When Secure Communities launched in 2008 each state was given a choice to join. Through October, 33 states had, with Gov. David Paterson signing up New York in May.

Since then, pressure has increased on him to reverse his decision before he leaves office at the end of this year.

“We have been very sensitive to this issue, we’ve reached out to Gov. Paterson and we plan to do more,” said Angela Fernandez, executive director for the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights.

City Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez and other elected officials rallied in front of 26 Federal Plaza earlier this month and introduced two resolutions calling on Paterson to repeal Secure Communities and for Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo to continue the Immigrant Pardon Board established by Paterson earlier this year.

“It comes down to a matter of safety and health in our community,” said Assembly Member-Elect Guillermo Linares. “Immigrants are an asset to this country, and it’s not just undocumented immigrants who are being targeted, but also immigrants who are not yet citizens but have been members of our society and are now being picked up for deportation.”

The program’s danger, explained Linares, is that immigrants will feel that they cannot turn to police to report crimes out of fear of later being targeted by Homeland Security.

“We cannot have a community who is afraid of the police or afraid to go to hospital to be treated” said Linares.

According to Aizeki of Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights, ever since New York State joined the program the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) has had a presence in the jails, particularly Rikers Island. This has led to reports of undocumented immigrants who are brought to Riker’s Island being sent to detention centers throughout the country, making it difficult for them to reach their families and get proper legal representation.

Asked about the governor’s intentions, Paterson’s office said in a statement that there is a “responsibility to balance his administration’s policies on immigration with border security and the threat of terrorism. Given New York State’s status as a target for extremists, the Secure Communities program can be a valuable tool to help protect New Yorkers.”

The office also said that after hearing concerns from certain communities, Gov. Paterson is looking into the program to see if there are any unintended consequences such as unfair deportations if the program continues to be implemented.

But as the governor waits, many fear that trust is eroding between immigrants and law enforcement officers.

“There is absolutely already a chilling effect” on how immigrants view police, asserts Assembly Member Peter Rivera of the Castle Hill section in the Bronx, who is a former police officer and assistant district attorney. Rivera’s voice of dissent is of particular note since he serves on Governor-Elect Andrew Cuomo’s transition team.

Rivera, who has long supported issues of concern to immigrants, sees this as an opportunity to build dialogue between Latino elected officials and Cuomo and ultimately rescind New York State’s agreement with the federal government.

“There is a constant urge towards the stigmatization of the immigrant population in this country, in this state. This is shameful. The majority of immigrants are not terrorists, and we know this,” he said. “[Secure Communities] is not the way for us to start or sustain a dialogue with new groups of people looking to do nothing more than work hard and become citizens.”

Ephraim Cruz, now a community service aide in the Bronx district attorney’s office, used to be a senior border patrol agent who resigned from the force after blowing the whistle on the mistreatment of undocumented immigrants in detention centers along the border.

“The police force must be able to interact with the immigrant population, understand the cultural differences, and be educated about their needs,” said Cruz. “There is no place for local law enforcement to be doing the job of the federal government, and there shouldn’t me a mishmash of federal and state law.”

Immigrant rights groups are also trying to make a case against the law by arguing the economic costs of the program.

“We need to organize and appeal to our communities, make them realize that this will not only affect our crime rates, but also our costs and tax expenses,” said Fernandez. “The fact that these people will be detained means that more tax payer dollars will have to go towards providing an overnight bed for them, they’re not staying one night. The process is long and Department of Homeland Security is only willing to pick up a small part of the cost.”

A Dec. 9 rally is being planned by the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights and the Barack Obama Democratic Club to urge Gov. Paterson to repeal the Secure Communities program. For more information, contact the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights 212-781-0355.

Article source: http://manhattantimesnews.com/2010/opposition-grows-against-secure-communities-immigration-program.html

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