Homicide Suspect Deported to Mexico Through Secure Communities Program

A Mexican citizen wanted for murder in his homeland was turned over to Mexican law enforcement officers Thursday, July 5, 2012, following his removal from the United States by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

Alfredo Montalvo-Coreno, 32, was arrested by the Fayette County Police Department in January for driving without a license. After his fingerprints were submitted to ICE under the Secure Communities program, officers discovered that Montalvo-Coreno was the subject of an Interpol warrant for a homicide committed in the Mexican State of Guanajuato in 2002.

ERO took custody of Montalvo-Coreno June 7 and detained him at the Stewart Detention Center. He was flown to Texas Thursday and turned over to officials from the Mexican Office of the General Attorney at the Laredo, Texas, port of entry.

"ICE works closely with our international law enforcement partners to identify, locate and deport aliens who are wanted in their home countries for allegedly committing heinous crimes," said Felicia Skinner, field office director of ERO Atlanta. "We will not allow criminal aliens to use the United States as a safe haven from their crimes." Skinner oversees ERO activities in Georgia and the Carolinas.

Since Oct. 1, 2009, ERO has removed more than 455 foreign fugitives from the United States who were being sought in their native countries for serious crimes, including kidnapping, rape and murder. ERO works with ICE's Office of International Affairs, foreign consular offices in the United States, and Interpol to identify foreign fugitives illegally present in the country.

Bridgeport Attorneys Counsel Family Divided By Deportation, Speak Out Against Federal Program Targeting Illegal Immigrants

M.C. Law Group immigration attorneys Alex Meyerovich and Amy Morilla Miller met recently with the Molina family of Stamford, which has been experiencing firsthand the painful effects of being separated from a loved one by the barriers of immigration law enforcement.

With the introduction of the federal immigration regulation program Secure Communities -- that was recently put into effect statewide in Connecticut -- there may be more families sharing the Molinas' pain.

Secure Communities unites the resources of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and local law enforcement in order to more effectively identify, detain, and remove criminal and/or illegal aliens. The program was launched in 2008 and was implemented statewide in Connecticut earlier this year. The program is scheduled to be in effect nationwide by 2013.

Under the Secure Communities program, any set of fingerprints taken by local law enforcement will automatically be sent first to the FBI for a criminal record check, and next to ICE for an immigration status check. If the database checks reveal a match to a criminal record and/or an illegal or "otherwise removable" immigration status, the individual will be immediately detained and subject to deportation proceedings.

According to the program's records, since October 2011 alone, Secure Communities has removed over 110,000 criminal aliens, including 39,500 removals of criminal aliens convicted for aggravated felony abuses such as murder, rape, and child sex abuse.

Despite the program's success in detaining and removing serious criminal alien offenders, it conversely has the ability to remove aliens with no criminal record whatsoever. Attorney Alex Meyerovich, who opposes the program, argues that the ability for local law enforcement to detain illegal immigrants for minor offenses, which can result in their deportation, represents an overzealous and unnecessary extension of ICE's power. Meyerovich and other critics of the program point to this and more potentially negative side effects of the program as major flaws of Secure Communities.

"On the surface, Secure Communities sounds like a very reasonable program. But what it means in reality is that every time an alien comes in contact with the police, they will have an increased fear of deportation," said Meyerovich. "This fear means there will be a decreased incentive to talk to the police, which means crime -- and more specifically, domestic abuse situations and traffic accidents -- is less likely to be reported by immigrant communities."

In addition to underreported crime, Meyerovich argues that the uniform deportation of non-criminal aliens -- often with established lives, businesses, and families in the U.S. -- is another detrimental side effect of Secure Communities, and one that has the potential to rip many families apart.

"It's completely absurd," said Meyerovich. "An alien can live here for years, pay American taxes, work in or start an American business, and have American spouses and children, but with Secure Communities, one encounter with local law enforcement can potentially mean a non-negotiable ticket back home."

The Molina family knows the pain of a family member being deported all too well. Meyerovich and fellow M.C. Law Group attorney Amy Morilla Miller represent the family in their attempts to return Sandra Payes-Chacon -- wife of U.S. citizen Rony Molina, and mother to U.S. citizen children Evelin, 19, Alex, 11, and Ronald, 8 -- to her home in Connecticut.

Payes-Chacon was detained and deported to her native country Guatemala in 2010, and is now barred from entering the U.S. for ten years. All of the family's legal attempts to rectify her situation -- including a request for humanitarian parole sent to the Department of Homeland Security -- have been denied.

In her absence, Rony Molina and his children must continue to endure the heartbreaking reality of being cut off from their wife and mother for ten years. Payes-Chacon herself is suffering from severe depression due to the separation.

"The children really need the presence of their mother," said attorney Morilla Miller of the Molinas' situation. "This family is being divided unnecessarily."

Although Payes-Chacon's deportation did not occur because of Secure Communities, critics caution that as the program continues to expand, cases like the Molina family's will become more frequent. What troubles Morilla Miller about this prospect is the unsympathetic attitude that she increasingly sees towards these unnecessary deportations.

"Some people might want to dismiss what this family is going through, and say that the husband and children should just pick up and move to Guatemala, but that's ridiculous," said Morilla Miller. "Her husband is a U.S. citizen. Her children are U.S. citizens, born and raised here like any American child. Guatemala is not only a foreign country to them, but one with poor employment and educational prospects, limited access to medical resources, and one of the worst crime rates. What American would want to raise their family in an environment like that?"

As Secure Communities gets closer to its goal of nationwide implementation by 2013, debates over immigration reform and the rights of immigrants are sure to intensify. The rights of illegal immigrants is a hotly contested issue among politicians and American citizens alike, with many arguing for stricter immigration regulation and harsher consequences for those who enter the country illegally.

However, Morilla Miller fervently opposes such measures, and sees the current debate over illegal immigration as blatantly ignoring America's storied history of welcoming immigrants.  

"America was founded on the scores of immigrants who came to this country in pursuit of a better life, " Morilla Miller said. "At some point, virtually every American citizen's ancestors were immigrants. So what's the point of fighting for the rights of immigrants to stay in this country? You. If someone had turned away your immigrant ancestors, then you wouldn't be here either."

Secure Communities: Leadership and Contact Information

Credentials for Gregory J. Archambeault, Assistant Director for Secure Communities and Enforcement

Gregory J. Archambeault

Assistant Director for Secure Communities and Enforcement

Gregory J. Archambeault is the assistant director (AD) for the Secure Communities and Enforcement Division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in Washington, DC. He is responsible for several major ICE initiatives, including the National Fugitive Operations Program, Criminal Alien Program, the 287(g) Program and the Secure Communities Program.

Mr. Archambeault has more than 23 years of law enforcement experience. In 1987, he began his law enforcement career in San Diego, first working as a co-op student with the former U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS); and in 1988, becoming a special agent. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Mr. Archambeault served in the INS attaché offices in Athens, Greece, and New Delhi, India, where he served as a liaison to law enforcement agencies and conducted training. He also managed immigration related enforcement activities in cooperation with foreign government officials.

Prior to joining the headquarters (HQ) ICE Office of Detention & Removal Operations (DRO), Mr. Archambeault was a member of the ICE Office of Investigations (OI), where he served as a senior special agent, supervisory special agent and as resident agent in charge. During his time at OI he was responsible for the management oversight of many complex criminal investigations related to violations of immigration and customs laws. Investigations ranged from alien smuggling and worksite enforcement to child exploitation and arms and strategy technology cases.

Mr. Archambeault joined HQ ICE DRO (currently, the Office Enforcement and Removal Operations) as the unit chief for the National Fugitive Operations Program in 2008. He was then appointed to the Senior Executive Service as the deputy assistant director for the Criminal Alien Division, where he was responsible for strategic planning, policy development and the deployment of resources to effectively identify, arrest and remove criminal aliens found at-large in the United States and incarcerated in federal, state and local jails and prisons.

Mr. Archambeault received a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice Administration from San Diego State University.

How to Contact Secure Communities

To contact the Secure Communities program office, please call (202) 732-3900. For media inquiries about Secure Communities, contact ICE's Office of Public Affairs at (202) 732-4242.

To report allegations of racial profiling, due process violations, or other possible violations of civil rights or civil liberties related to Secure Communities, all complaints should be filed with the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties complaint intake website.

Secure Communities: Briefing Materials for State and Local Law Enforcement

Concerns about the civil rights and civil liberties of individuals in communities where there is significant immigration enforcement activity are not unique to the Secure Communities initiative. The Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are creating a series of training /awareness briefings designed primarily for use by front line state and local law enforcement agency personnel during daily muster/roll call briefings. The videos and other tools will address eight categories of civil rights and civil liberties issues and topics of importance.

Project Goals:

·                             To provide actionable information to state and local law enforcement about the civil rights and civil liberties issues that may arise when ICE begins using a federal information sharing capability through Secure Communities in their jurisdictions.

·                             To increase the transparency of the Department's active commitment to     protecting the civil rights and civil liberties of all persons affected by DHS activities and programs.

The training/briefing materials are offered as a series of short videos, discussion guides with references to web-based resources for additional information (when available), and job aids.

Materials Currently Available on the ICE Website:

These training /briefing materials include a series of modules; each module contains a short viewable video and related materials such as fact sheets, discussion guides, web-based resources, and job aids. Although the modules will cover all of the topics noted below and are designed to be presented as a series, law enforcement agencies may also present the materials in a variety of combinations to suit the needs of individual jurisdictions.

The materials are designed for two distinct audiences: front line officers and law enforcement leadership (noted as the “Commander's packets”).

Current Materials

Commander's Packet

·                             DHS Plan to Provide Training to State and Local Law Enforcement in the Secure Communities Program  

·                             Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Complaint Form (In English and Spanish. Forms are also available in seven other languages).

·                             Secure Communities Complaints Protocol

·                             ICE Detainer Form

·                             Prosecutorial Discretion Memo: Certain Victims, Witnesses, and Plaintiffs

·                             Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion Consistent with the Civil Immigration Enforcement Priorities of the Agency for the Apprehension, Detention, and Removal of Aliens

Topics Under Development for Future Law Enforcement Briefings

·                             Working with Non-English Speakers

·                             Special Immigration Law Protections for Crime Victims

·                             Responsibility under the Violence Against Women Act

·                             When to Notify Foreign Consuls

·                             ICE Detainers (ICE request to local jails to hold certain aliens up to 48 hours)

·                             Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Complaints

·                             Avoiding Racial and Ethnic Profiling

Secure Communities: Rights and Liberties Protection

Civil Rights and Liberties

Secure Communities reduces opportunities for racial or ethnic profiling because all people booked into jails are fingerprinted. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and DHS' Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) are currently implementing additional safeguards to further protect the program from those who may seek to use it improperly.

Several initiatives to achieve these goals are underway:

·                             In order to identify jurisdictions that may be making improper arrests that could result in identification of aliens through Secure Communities, ICE and CRCL have retained a leading statistician who is examining data for each jurisdiction where Secure Communities is activated, comparing data for aliens identified by the program to relevant arrest-rate data, and identifying any indications of racial profiling. Statistical outliers will be subject to an in-depth analysis. This analysis will take place four times per year to ensure consistent monitoring, and the assessments will be shared quarterly with the Department of Justice. Statistical outliers in local jurisdictions will be subject to an in-depth analysis and DHS and ICE will take appropriate steps to resolve any issues.

·                             To prevent and address possible abuses of Secure Communities, ICE and CRCL are working together to develop a new training program for state and local law enforcement agencies in jurisdictions where Secure Communities is activated. These training materials are designed to reduce confusion regarding Secure Communities and help ensure that the program is not misused.

·                             ICE has revised the detainer from ICE submits to local jurisdictions to emphasize the longstanding guidance that state and local authorities are not to detain an individual for more than 48 hours. The form also requires local law enforcement to provide arrestees with a copy, which has a number to call if they believe their civil rights have been violated.

·                             DHS and ICE take allegations of racial profiling and other complaints relating to civil rights and civil liberties violations very seriously. Formal allegations are referred to CRCL, which is tasked with guarding against violations in DHS programs. CRCL notifies the Department of Justice, which has jurisdiction to investigate violations of civil rights by state and local officers of all investigations undertaken. ICE fully supports all Department of Justice or CRCL investigations, including by taking action to ensure witnesses and complainants are able to remain in the United States.

Secure Communities: The ICE Partnership

Enforcing America's immigration laws is a federal responsibility. Under the Homeland Security Act of 2002, this responsibility falls to DHS, specifically U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Since 2008, Congress has expanded ICE's immigration enforcement obligations – directing ICE to create a program to identify criminal aliens and prioritize them for removal.

In light of this direction and the fact that ICE receives limited resources, ICE must prioritize which of the estimated 10 million illegal immigrants in the United States and other removable aliens to pursue. In a memo issued by ICE Director John Morton in June 2010, ICE outlined the way it prioritizes removals. Specifically, ICE prioritizes the removal of those who pose a danger to national security or public safety, repeat violators who game the immigration system, those who fail to appear at immigration hearings, and fugitives who have already been ordered removed by an immigration judge. Because the Administration is committed to using immigration enforcement resources in the way most beneficial to public safety, the primary focus is on convicted criminals, with a priority on aggravated felons.

As a result, record numbers of criminal aliens have been removed, with Secure Communities playing a key role in ICE's ability to fulfill this public safety priority. Between October 2008 and October 2011, the number of convicted criminals that ICE removed from the United States increased 89 percent, while the number of aliens removed without criminal convictions dropped by 29 percent. These trends are due in significant part to the implementation and expansion of Secure Communities. While Secure Communities is only responsible for a limited percentage of ICE's total removals and returns, it has helped ICE identify a more significant percentage of the convicted criminals that ICE removes or returns.

Over time, the percentage of serious offenders removed through Secure Communities will continue to increase, as those convicted of misdemeanors will decrease. This reflects the fact that people who commit more serious crimes serve longer sentences and consequently take longer to come into ICE custody. Since Secure Communities was first activated in October 2008, the percentage of misdemeanant removals has decreased from 40 percent of all removals in fiscal year 2009 to 29 percent of all removals following identification through Secure Communities in fiscal year 2011.

Secure Communities: The Process

Secure Communities: From Arrest to Release or Removal

When state and local law enforcement arrest and book someone into a jail for a violation of a state criminal offense, they generally fingerprint the person. After fingerprints are taken at the jail, the state and local authorities electronically submit the fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). This data is then stored in the FBI's criminal databases. After running the fingerprints against those databases, the FBI sends the state and local authorities a record of the person's criminal history.

With the Secure Communities program, once the FBI checks the fingerprints, the FBI automatically sends them to DHS, so that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can determine if that person is also subject to removal (deportation). This change, whereby the fingerprints are sent to DHS in addition to the FBI, fulfills a 2002 Congressional mandate for the FBI to share information with ICE, and is consistent with a 2008 federal law that instructs ICE to identify criminal aliens for removal. Secure Communities does not require any changes in the procedures of local law enforcement agencies or jails.

If the person has been previously encountered and fingerprinted by an immigration official and there is a digitized record, then the immigration database will register a “match.” ICE then reviews other databases to determine whether the person is here illegally or is otherwise removable.

In cases where the person appears from these checks to be removable, ICE generally issues a detainer on the person, requesting that the state or local jail facility hold the individual up to an extra 48 hours (excluding weekends) to allow for an interview of the person. Following the interview, ICE decides whether to seek the person's removal.

In making these decisions, ICE considers a number of factors, including the person's criminal history, immigration history (such as whether the person was previously deported or has an outstanding removal order from an immigration judge), family ties, duration of stay in the U.S., significant medical issues, and other circumstances. In many instances involving lower-level criminals or people who are not convicts, re-entrants, or fugitives, ICE offers the person the option of voluntary return. A voluntary return allows the person to enter the U.S. lawfully in the future.

When someone goes into immigration proceedings, the court process is run independent of the state criminal justice system. As a result, illegal immigrants can be removed before the criminal case is complete. There are a variety of reasons that the local arrest may not result in a criminal conviction. However, all of those removed are guilty of an immigration violation, and removed pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Secure Communities: Fundamentals and Updates

Fundamentals of Secure Communities



DHS has expanded Secure Communities from 14 jurisdictions in 2008 to more than 1,700 today, including all jurisdictions along the Southwest border. DHS is on track to expand this program to all law enforcement jurisdictions nationwide by 2013.

Through Oct. 31, 2011, more than 110,000 immigrants convicted of crimes, including more than 39,000 convicted of aggravated felony (level 1) offenses like murder, rape and the sexual abuse of children were removed from the United States after identification through Secure Communities. These removals significantly contributed to a 89 percent increase in the overall percentage of convicted criminals removed by ICE, with 102,000 more criminal removals in FY 2011 than in FY 2008. As a result of the increased focus on criminals, this period also included a 29 percent reduction or 74,000 fewer non-criminal removals.

How does Secure Communities work?

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) receives annual appropriations from Congress sufficient to remove a limited number of the more than 10 million individuals estimated to be in the U.S. who lack lawful status or are removable because of a criminal conviction. Given this reality, ICE must set sensible priorities.

Under the Obama administration, ICE has set clear and common-sense priorities for immigration enforcement focused on identifying and removing those aliens with criminal convictions. In addition to criminal aliens, ICE focuses on recent illegal entrants, repeat violators who game the immigration system, those who fail to appear at immigration hearings, and fugitives who have already been ordered removed by an immigration judge.

These priorities have led to significant results. Between fiscal years 2008 and 2011, ICE removed more convicted criminal aliens from our country than ever before, with the number of convicted criminals that ICE removed from the United States increasing by 89 percent, while the number of non-criminals removed dropped by 29 percent.





Updates to Secure Communities

Secure Communities has proven to be a critical tool for carrying out ICE's enforcement priorities. To continue to improve the program, DHS and ICE are committed to addressing concerns that have been raised about its operation including:

·                             Limited Removal Resources: Currently, ICE receives an annual appropriation from Congress sufficient to remove a limited number of the more than 10 million individuals estimated to be in the United States unlawfully. As Secure Communities is continuing to grow each year, and is currently on track to be implemented nationwide by 2013, refining the program will enable ICE to focus its limited resources on the most serious criminals across the country.

·                             Community Policing: Some law enforcement agencies have expressed concerns about whether Secure Communities could have an impact on witnesses and victims of crimes coming forward to report criminal activities in their communities. Given the importance of community policing, ICE is instituting additional training to ensure that law enforcement officers understand the goals and priorities of the program.

·                             Civil Rights: As with all enforcement programs, there is a need to ensure that the civil rights of those who interact with law enforcement are protected. As Secure Communities matures into a national program, ICE is taking additional steps to ensure that it can execute its mission while continuing to respond to any potential civil rights concerns.

These additional safeguards will further protect the program from those who may undermine ICE's enforcement priorities or engage in racial or ethnic profiling:

·                             Advisory Committee & Minor Traffic Offenses: ICE is creating a new advisory committee that will advise the Director of ICE on ways to improve Secure Communities, including making recommendations on how to best focus on individuals who pose a true public safety or national security threat. This panel will be composed of chiefs of police, sheriffs, state and local prosecutors, court officials, ICE agents from the field, and community and immigration advocates. The first report of this advisory committee will be delivered to the Director within 45 days and will provide recommendations on how ICE can adjust the Secure Communities program to mitigate potential impacts on community policing practices, including whether and how to implement policy regarding the removals of individuals charged with, but not convicted of, minor traffic offenses who have no other criminal history.

·                             Prosecutorial Discretion: ICE Director Morton has issued a new memo providing guidance for ICE law enforcement personnel and attorneys regarding their authority to exercise discretion when appropriate – authority designed to help ICE better focus on meeting the priorities of both the agency and the Secure Communities program to use limited resources to target criminals and those that put public safety at risk. This memo also directs the exercise of prosecutorial discretion to ensure that victims of and witnesses to crimes are properly protected. The memo clarifies that the exercise of discretion is inappropriate in cases involving threats to public safety, national security and other agency priorities.

·                             Training for States: ICE and the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) have developed a new training program for state and local law enforcement agencies to provide more information for state and local law enforcement about how Secure Communities works and how it relates to laws governing civil rights.

·                             Protecting Victims & Witnesses of Crimes: At the direction of Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, ICE, in consultation with CRCL, has developed a new policy specifically to protect victims of domestic violence and other crimes and to ensure these crimes continue to be reported and prosecuted. This policy directs ICE officers to exercise appropriate discretion to ensure victims and witnesses to crimes are not penalized by removal. ICE is also working to develop additional tools that will help identify people who may be a victim, witness, or member of a vulnerable class so officers can exercise appropriate discretion.

·                             Detainer Policy: ICE has revised the detainer form ICE sends to local jurisdictions to emphasize the longstanding guidance that state and local authorities are not to detain an individual for more than 48 hours. The form also requests local law enforcement to provide arrestees with a copy, which has a number to call if they believe their civil rights have been violated.

·                             Data Collection:

o                                                           ICE and CRCL have created a new complaint system whereby individuals or organizations who believe civil rights violations connected to Secure Communities have occurred can file a complaint. For example, CRCL will investigate complaints of ethnic discrimination by policing jurisdictions for which Secure Communities has been activated, and DHS will take steps to ensure that bias or other abuses do not affect immigration enforcement.

o                                                           ICE and CRCL have created an ongoing quarterly statistical review of the program to examine data for each jurisdiction where Secure Communities is activated to identify effectiveness and any indications of potentially improper use of the program. Statistical outliers in local jurisdictions will be subject to an in-depth analysis and DHS and ICE will take appropriate steps to resolve any issues.

Secure Communities: An Introduction

The highest priority of any law enforcement agency is to protect the communities it serves. When it comes to enforcing our nation's immigration laws, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) focuses its limited resources on those who have been arrested for breaking criminal laws.

ICE prioritizes the removal of criminal aliens, those who pose a threat to public safety, and repeat immigration violators.

Secure Communities is a simple and common sense way to carry out ICE's priorities. It uses an already-existing federal information-sharing partnership between ICE and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that helps to identify criminal aliens without imposing new or additional requirements on state and local law enforcement. For decades, local jurisdictions have shared the fingerprints of individuals who are booked into jails with the FBI to see if they have a criminal record. Under Secure Communities, the FBI automatically sends the fingerprints to ICE to check against its immigration databases. If these checks reveal that an individual is unlawfully present in the United States or otherwise removable due to a criminal conviction, ICE takes enforcement action – prioritizing the removal of individuals who present the most significant threats to public safety as determined by the severity of their crime, their criminal history, and other factors – as well as those who have repeatedly violated immigration laws.

Secure Communities imposes no new or additional requirements on state and local law enforcement, and the federal government, not the state or local law enforcement agency, determines what immigration enforcement action, if any, is appropriate.

Only federal DHS officers make immigration enforcement decisions, and they do so only after an individual is arrested for a criminal violation of state law, separate and apart from any violations of immigration law.

Attorney Alex Meyerovich Speaks Out Against ICE Secure Communities Program

By: Mallory Huron

 

Bridgeport, CT -- Local attorney Alex Meyerovich spoke out recently against the federal Secure Communities program, which went into effect statewide in Connecticut on February 22.

 Secure Communities, launched in 2008, is a federal program that combines the resources of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and local law enforcement.

Through the program, any set of fingerprints taken by local law enforcement will automatically be sent first to the FBI for a criminal background check, and next to the ICE database for an immigration status check. If there is a match to a criminal record, and/or ICE records show that the individual is in the U.S. illegally, or “otherwise removable,” the individual will be detained and subject to deportation proceedings.

As of October 2011, the program cites over 110,000 removals of immigrants convicted of crimes, which includes 39,500 removals of immigrants convicted of aggravated felony offenses such as murder, rape, and child sex abuse. The program is set to be in effect nationwide by 2013.

However, although the program is designed to target immigrants convicted of serious and often violent crimes, some claim that it will have possible detrimental side effects.

M.C. Law Group immigration attorney Alex Meyerovich, who opposes the program, discussed the potential pitfalls of Secure Communities on Wednesday, February 22, when the program went into effect statewide.

“For many people, it’s a challenge,” Meyerovich said of the program’s consequences on Wednesday. The program is already proving challenging – and controversial – with many arguing that it could have the problematic consequence of effectively turning local law enforcement into ICE immigration officers.

Secure Communities insists that local law enforcement officers are not given any additional responsibilities under the program, nor are they instructed or authorized to enforce federal immigration law. However, concerns about possible misuse of power linger, as well concerns over the larger impact for local communities.

“This program will probably do more damage to the communities than good,” said Meyerovich. “It creates a disincentive for immigrants to call the police, ever.”

This disincentive, Meyerovich argues, could pose a serious threat to community safety. Immigrants may begin to fear any interaction with local law enforcement, and may avoid reporting anything from car accidents to domestic violence disputes for fear of potential deportation. He maintains that if any resident, whether they reside in the U.S. legally or illegally, is dissuaded from alerting the police about matters of public and personal safety, then Secure Communities will actually be creating insecure and unsafe communities.

Watch the full News12 Connecticut interview with Attorney Meyerovich below.