Civil
Rights Groups Applaud Sheriff Hennessey for (Again)
Requesting to Opt Out of the Dangerous Fingerprinting
Program
San Francisco - A
broad coalition of civil rights groups today applaud Sheriff Hennessey for
sending another letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the California
Department of Justice to request that San Francisco be allowed to out of a
dangerous finger printing program known as S-Comm (i.e., Secure
Communities). S-Comm is a program that automatically
shares with ICE any fingerprints taken by local law enforcement right
after any individuals are arrested, no matter how minimal the charge or whether
the individual is eventually found to be innocent of alleged charges, thereby
resulting in increased deportations and the tearing apart of families. In the past six months, ICE has tripled the number of jurisdictions operating S-Comm, and it is now in
494 jurisdictions in 27 states.[1]
Sheriff Hennessey sent the letter requesting to opt out of
S-Comm on August 31st in response to a document issued by ICE that confirms
that participation in S-Comm is voluntary, and not mandatory. The ICE document, entitled, "Setting the
Record Straight" states in relevant part:
"If a
jurisdiction does not wish to activate on its scheduled date in the Secure
Communities deployment plan, it must formally notify its state identification
bureau and ICE in writing (email, letter or facsimile). Upon receipt of
that information, ICE will request a meeting with federal partners, the
jurisdiction, and the state to discuss any issues and come to a resolution,
which may include adjusting the jurisdiction's activation date in or removing the
jurisdiction from the deployment plan."
Rachel Ebora, Director of Community Engagement at Bernal
Heights Neighborhood Center, praised Sheriff Hennessey for his courage and
leadership, "This city is fortunate to have Sheriff Hennessey who knows that
one of the keys to successful law enforcement is building trust with all
community members, including immigrant residents."
Maria Carolina Morales, Intervention Director at Community
United Against Violence, also expressed strong support for the Sheriff's
request to opt out. "SF has done
everything required of us to opt out. Sheriff Hennessey and the Board of Supervisors have voiced our concerns
loud and clear. It's now ICE's turn to
follow through on their word and allow SF to do what has been within our right
all along - opt out. Only then will we
be able to focus our local resources back on local law enforcement and untangle
ourselves from being drafted into conducting federal immigration
enforcement."
In a recent statement from ICE to the press, ICE spokesperson Virginia Kice, states , "Once ICE receives the correspondence from the San Francisco
County Sheriff, we will review the request and convene a meeting with the other
agencies involved, including the California Department of Justice, to discuss
the Sheriff's specific issues and concerns. Based upon those discussions, ICE
and its partners will examine the options and seek a feasible resolution, which
may include changing the jurisdiction's activation status."
Background on S-Comm in SF: Although Sheriff Hennessey made it clear prior to the implementation of
S-Comm in San Francisco on June 8th that the city wants to opt out of this
voluntary program, ICE initially rejected his request. Attorney General Jerry Brown added to the
confusion by refusing to allow SF to opt out despite a clear statement in the
cover letter to the MOU agreement that he signed with ICE which allows counties to opt
out. However, Brown's Office in
subsequent meetings with civil rights groups revised his position and stated
that he would not stand in the way if counties were able to find an opt out path
with ICE.
Numerous localities throughout the country have joined San
Francisco in voicing strong concerns about the lack of transparency and the
harm to community policing posed by S-Comm. A coalition of national civil rights organizations recently released
documents obtained from filing a FOIA suit against ICE that showed that a
significant percentage of those deported under the program were "non-criminals."[2] According to an August 10th report analyzing data from ICE, about 26 percent of all those deported
nationwide under S-Comm are non-criminals, with the rate as high as 82 percent
in some jurisdictions. The New York Times also has issued an editorial calling the program a "bait and switch" for its lack of transparency and the
fact that the vast majority of those deported under S-Comm were non-criminals
or charged with low-level crimes. In
response, ICE has recently changed their tune and confirmed that the program is
voluntary.
The San Francisco
Immigrant Rights Defense Committee is a growing alliance of immigrant rights
advocates, labor groups, faith leaders, youth advocates, and LGBT
activists. This includes, but is not limited to, Arab Resource and
Organizing Center, Asian Law Caucus, Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center,
Central American Resource Center, Dolores Street Community Services, Immigrant
Legal Resource Center, Instituto Familiar de la Raza, Inc., La Raza Centro
Legal, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, National Lawyers Guild San Francisco Bay Area
Chapter, San Francisco Immigrant Legal & Education Network, and Young
Workers United.
The ACLU of Northern
California also joins in this press release.
###
[1] See Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
"Activated Jurisdictions," available at
http://www.ice.gov/doclib/secure_communities/pdf/sc_activated.pdf.
[2] Visit
the Center for Constitutional Rights' Secure Communities FOIA case page for the
text of the April 27th FOIA Complaint and all records obtained through the FOIA
litigation. Other relevant S-Comm news
and information is available at www.uncoverthetruth.org.
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