California TRUST Act Builds Wall Around Secure Communities
By Alex Nowrasteh | 07/09/2012 | Arizona, California, Featured, Immigration, Issues, States | 3 Comments
Image: Public Domain
[Last week], the California Senate passed the TRUST Act. Known by some as the “anti-Arizona immigration law,” it would limit California law enforcement’s cooperation with the federal Secure Communities program. The TRUST Act is positive news for California budgets, residents of the state, and police departments that practice community-policing strategies.
The TRUST Act is an improvement for three main reasons:
1. The TRUST Act would limit immigration detainers to unauthorized immigrants convicted of a serious or violent felony. This is essential to continuing California cities’ successful use of community policing strategies that rely on informant and witness cooperation with police, even if they are unauthorized immigrants. If the possibility of deportation is increased with Secure Communities, fewer unauthorized immigrants and their legal families will go out on a limb to help police solve real crime.
2. The TRUST Act would lower the cost for local governments who object to the high cost of detaining suspected unauthorized immigrants. Food, guards, prisons, beds, and other amenities provided to suspected unauthorized immigrants are too expensive for many jurisdictions.
3. The TRUST Act frees those who haven’t been convicted of violent or serious felonies and would prevent imprisonment of American citizens like James Makowski.
Beyond the TRUST Act, Secure Communities should be discontinued. Secure Communities is a federal immigration enforcement program that links fingerprint records with government immigration and criminal databases. If ICE suspects an arrestee is an unauthorized immigrant, it issues a detainer to hold the arrestee so that ICE is notified when the arrestee is to be released, often delaying the arrestee’s release until ICE is ready—on merely a suspicion that the arrestee is an unauthorized immigrant. ICE then detains the arrestee, verifies he is unauthorized (occasionally they deport American citizens by accident), and deports him. Meanwhile, local police departments hold these suspected unauthorized immigrants past their release dates.
Secure Communities was started in March 2008 by the Bush administration and was piloted in 14 police jurisdictions in October of that year. By now, Secure Communities is active in over 3,000 jurisdictions in the United States and will be nationwide shortly. States and localities originally volunteered to cooperate with ICE in this program, but some states like New York and Illinois want to drop out. The government’s response to their requests was to declare Secure Communities mandatory despite earlier agreements and statements to the contrary.
Makowski, who was naturalized at the age of 1 after his American parents adopted him from India, was held for two months in a maximum security prison in Pontiac, Ill., because his immigration files were not updated after he was naturalized.
“Everybody makes mistakes. I’ve made mine,” said Makowski. “But if the government can detain a U.S. citizen without justification, that’s pretty outrageous. There have to be safeguards in place.”
He is suing the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security for his two-month detention.
ICE officials have previously stated in their Secure Communities agreement with California that the program would only target those “convicted of serious offenses.” Recently obtained government documents show that Secure Communities issues detainers for people who are not suspected of any criminal conduct. Some are detained by Secure Communities because they were unable to identify themselves satisfactorily at drivers’ license checkpoints or because they were arrested for identification purposes. Merely being arrested for non-serious offenses should not subject an arrestee to Secure Communities.
Secure Committees has lost credibility with the public, imposes heavy incarceration costs on states, and the resources expended on it should be used to deport unauthorized immigrants who have been convicted of violent or serious felonies. The TRUST Act would build a wall around the worst parts of Secure Communities in California and help restore confidence between police and immigrants.
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This article, originally published at Cato at Liberty by Alex Nowrasteh, is reprinted with permission from the Cato Institute.
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3 Comments
Matt Metzner
07.09.2012
@mmetzner
Great to see Cato contributing to the site. Thanks Alex. Glad to see California opting out of this program. There are serious questions raised when addressing the “serious convictions” vs. non-criminal offenses and why the latter is being detained at all.
Henry
07.23.2012
So now people have to be raped or murdered before immigration laws are enforced? And why is ID theft getting a pass? Illegals are allowed to steal the identities of Americans and California won’t report it until there’s some bloodshed.
This is not good for public safety. Sad to see CATO siding with the anti-American crowd.
davefrancis
07.13.2012
@davefrancis
TWO TEA PARTY LAWS THAT WOULD PROVIDE JOBS FOR AMERICANS
E-Verify ‘The Legal Workforce Act’ (H.R. 2885) although just voluntary at this time, is an electronic program operated by the Social Security Administration and Customs and Immigration Enforcement. —The last entity I would listen too is the Liberal Press, who have transferred their loyalty to hard core radical people like socialist George Soros? The mainstream media Editorial reeks of deceit and rhetoric, when it comes to illegal immigration. The progressives in the news media are especially dangerous. The liberals will lie and cheat, no matter the consequences to America. So it is with E-Verify, which they have demonized because, it actually flags illegal immigrants in the workplace and opens up jobs for U.S. citizens and residents. The liberals have been very predominant in using the influence of the press, to erect a barrier against Mandatory E-Verify, except they didn’t reckon on the growing masses of the TEA PARTY. Unlike the two main political parties the TEA PARTY will enforce all laws and statutes pertaining to illegal immigration, whereas the Dem’s and GOP tend to intentionally overlook such state ordinances as Sanctuary Cities and states like California?
I THINK DEMOCRATS OR REPUBLICANS ARE UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT THE TEA PARTY WILL HAVE NO REAL INFLUENCE IN THE OUTCOME OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION? BOTH PARTIES WILL BE PROVED WRONG?
REMEMBER THE TEA PARTY WILL ENFORCE ‘THE PEOPLE’S’ LAWS. THERE WILL BE NO PLEADINGS FOR ANY CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIEN, NO OBAMA BACKDOOR AMNESTIES, NO DREAM ACTS, NO SANCTUARY CITIES, NO CHAIN MIGRATION. E-VERIFICATION WOULD ALSO BE FULLY ENFORCED WITH STRINGENT PUNISHMENT, FOR THOSE WHO DON’T COMPLY? POTENTIAL PRESIDENT MITT ROMNEY BETTER STAY AWARE OF THE ‘TEA PARTY’ EMPOWERMENT, AS IF HE THINKS OF PLAYING ALONG IN THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ISSUE, HE WILL BE RECOGNISED AS A FLIP-FLOPPER.
Even the House Speaker John Boehner has refused to bring up compulsory E-Verify for a House vote. Obviously he and his entrenched colleagues will not allow it anywhere near the Congress, as he and his fellow conspirators are subject to the corporate donations, to keep the old school corrupting our system of government. E-Verify is just one bill that must be passed to save the jobs of millions of low income Americans mainly.
The Independents, and uncountable numbers of delusional Democrats, Republicans are recognizing that the Lib-Democrats are out to win the grand price in November, but now millions of TEA PARTY people will not fall into their political trap. This is the same with photo ID to vote, who have ruthless personages as U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the Kings court caterwauling ‘voter Suppression’, when all the TEA PARTY requests is a fair and equitable election. Surf the internet under ‘Voter Fraud’ and you will discover the hundreds of cases of this diabolical use of our most trusted right of American citizens, being compromised by NON CITIZENS, felons and illegal aliens. This began with inception of canvassing provided by ACORN organization, which signed up just about anybody and were eventually caught and 11 states are resolving this criminal issue.
Another law that remains quietly concealed from the public is the Rep. Steve Kings THE BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP ACT (H.R.140). An astronomical amount of money is being extracted from every taxpaying American that supports the annual arrival of an estimated 400.000 smuggled babies into the United States. They are concealed in their Mother’s womb and once here becomes the taxpayers charge. These females although illegal that once they set foot on American soil, their offspring receive a free delivery, free heath care and a free education, thanks to unfunded mandates handed down by the courts. The only salvation from this misjudged law is to amend the 14th amendment, which an only child with one citizen parent qualifies for instant citizenship. Illegal alien parents are well aware that if they smuggle the unborn child through an international airport terminal or past the U.S. Border Patrol, they are free and clear as the misguided law stands today. In addition the Secure Communities (287G) should stay in place, not rescinded by the Liberal amassing of voices in the department of Justice.
With only four months to go before D-Day us the voter only has that one slender chance of changing the direction of our country. With the democrats cocooned with the Liberals, the only promise is uncontrolled ‘Tax and Spend’ so elevating the 16 Trillion dollar deficit we owe the rest of the worlds investors. Then under the Republicans, a lesser of the evils, but even so they must be controlled by the TEA PARTY LEADERSHIP.
Anybody who contradicts the writings in the U.S. Constitution, who is adverse to a real border fence, who is unconcerned about the 20 million plus illegal aliens already here or the harbinger of a further invasion from Central and South America needs to be relieved of their seats in Washington, not excluding the majority of legislators in Congress, state governors as Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, Jerry Brown of California, and Mayors as Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles—all must be replaced by TEA PARTY MEMBERS. All the pro-illegal immigrant law makers are destroying this sovereign country, as they are well aware that illegal aliens vote. That is why Americans, Hispanic, Latin, Black, White Asian and others should join one of the thousands of local chapters of the TEA PARTY. They should be ready to oversee the elections, including the rampant fraud in the absentee ballot. Around the country the election rolls are crowded with the names of the deceased, others who have moved to a different state. There are many ways our most sacred of rights have been compromised and only the citizen voter can change it.
Remember under Obama Imperial court we will be paying not only for any person who illegally ventures here, but for millions of Americans who have found it easy, to just live of the taxpayer. Beneath our feet is abundance of wealth in oil, natural gas and coal for energy that President Obama denies us. Those trillions of dollars in excess gallons of crude oil could clearly go to replenish state treasuries and the remainder could be sold to our friends in other countries. Under Obama and decades of environmental zealots, we have not been cut off from our own resources, relying on governments abroad that hate us. Even the abundance of oil from Canada is better than dealing with foreign potentates.
Attention: Investigation of President Obama’s background history is due to be released by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio on July 17, 2012 and could stun everybody. The upcoming press conference is set to be held at 2:30 p.m. local time at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in Phoenix, Arizona, with World Net Daily again providing live streaming video coverage.