By Henni Espinosa, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau
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San Francisco – On Thursday, a broad coalition of immigrant rights advocates gathered at the Dolores Street Community Services to protest a new federal immigration program called Secure Communities or S-Comm.
Christopher Punongbayan of the Asian Law Caucus said, “This program is not federal law and has not been approved by Congress. ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has forced this upon our sanctuary city under a shroud of secrecy and confusion.”
S-Comm compels local enforcement agencies to automatically share with ICE the fingerprints of any immigrant who is arrested.
Even immigrants accused of extremely minor offenses, such as not paying a traffic fine, could be reported to ICE for deportation.
Punongbayan said it does not matter if you are proven innocent of any wrongdoing. He said, “S-Comm makes even the innocent vulnerable to getting deported.”
Punongbayan added that S-Comm will discourage immigrants to report crime. He said, “This breaks the trust between local enforcement agencies and the people.”
The S-Comm program is now being implemented in over 200 jurisdictions all over the United States. The program went into effect in San Francisco in June.
Francisco Ugarte of the San Francisco Legal and Education Network said this program violates the Sanctuary Ordinance in San Francisco.
He said, “For 20 years, San Francisco’s Sanctuary Ordinance has helped undocumented immigrants contribute to and participate in our communities. Now that S-Comm is in place, I’ve been asked what that means for our local police. S-Comm opens doors to racial profiling by local law enforcements who may be incentivized to overcharge or falsely arrest innocent immigrant residents.”
ICE plans to implement S-Comm in all states by 2011, and in all prisons across the country by 2013.
Immigrants and their advocates said unless President Obama passes a law on comprehensive immigration reform, there will be more measures targeting immigrants which will not only tear families apart but put communities in a state of uncertainty.
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why should you be afraid if you’r legal, kasi yun ang takot ay mga TNT, umuwi na kayo at ayusin ang papeles sa legal na paraan, ang bawat nation ay may sariling batas igalang natin ang kanilang batas.
[...] make up about 14% of matches in the system. Immigrant advocates in the Bay Area, including Asian Law Caucus, have been fighting its implementation, asserting that this program violates San Francisco’s [...]
Having a sanctuary is against FEDERAL LAW. that is why Robert Gibbs, the press secretary cannot answer the question from one of the White house correspondence when ask, Why is the DOJ not suing other states who have Sanctuary city when they also violate the Fedaral law. just as the DOJ claims is what the state of ARIZONA is doing when they pass their immigration law which is in it self mirrored to the one already existing FEDERAL LAW.
But dont worry, OBAMA is only doing this to show later on that HE IS TOUGH on immigration.
He need all the votes he can muster on 2012 for his second coming. I wont be surprise if he will not push this Immigration reform down our throats just like he did Healthcare.