This has been the week of the Secure Communities program. Yesterday the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released its report for fiscal year 2010, which ended September 30. With great pride, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced that the ICE had nearly reached its annual goal of 400,000 deportations, an all-time record. The claim was made that "half were criminals."
This means, of course, that half of those removed had no criminal record. Furthermore, only one-third of the crimimals, that is, one-sixth of the total, had "serious criminal records." Many of those "serious crimes," possibly three-quarters, were convictions for drug possession, that is, "crimes" created by the prohibitionist laws of the "War on Drugs."
The Obama administration is sending a double message, as encapsuled in comments made this week by Secretary Napolitano. The first is that the goal of Secure Communities is, "to remove criminal aliens." But then the Secretary boasts that "more illegal immigrants are being removed ... than ever before." The New York Times, in an August editorial, called this "Bait and Switch."
This means, of course, that half of those removed had no criminal record. Furthermore, only one-third of the crimimals, that is, one-sixth of the total, had "serious criminal records." Many of those "serious crimes," possibly three-quarters, were convictions for drug possession, that is, "crimes" created by the prohibitionist laws of the "War on Drugs."
The Obama administration is sending a double message, as encapsuled in comments made this week by Secretary Napolitano. The first is that the goal of Secure Communities is, "to remove criminal aliens." But then the Secretary boasts that "more illegal immigrants are being removed ... than ever before." The New York Times, in an August editorial, called this "Bait and Switch."
The political point of all this is made clear by the Secretary's further comment regarding right-wing criticism of the administration's efforts, "All we can do is produce results and talk about them." Secure Communities is not about "security." It is about the demagoguery of xenophobic politics . Secure Communities is another anti-Latino purge, following in the footsteps of the "Repatriation" of the 1930's and "Operation Wetback" of the 1950's McCarthy era. (See our editorial, "Racism, the Free Market and the Creation of the 'Illegal' Mexican Migrant")
This week the New York Times, in another editorial entitled Confusion over Secure Communities, worried that, "Secure Communities should not allow overzealous local police officers to use arbitrary stops as a way to ensnare illegal immigrants in the deportation web." That is, it shouldn't be an "Arizona" law. But in truth, Secure Communities does more than "allow" local police to "ensnare illegal immigrants in the deportation web," it inextricably ties those communities and any immigrant without a valid visa to that web. News reports this week made clear that local jurisdictions could not "opt-out" of having fingerprints of all persons they arrest sent by the FBI to ICE.
Currently, 660 jurisdictions are part of Secure Communities. The Department of Homeland Security wants every jurisdiction in the country to be in the program by 2013. With this there will be no need for Arizona-style state immigration laws, which most of the country now seems to want. The federal government will be doing the job through the "secure communities" dragnet, using it to deport a half-million or more "illegal immigrants" a year, thus ridding us of those "aliens."
This week the New York Times, in another editorial entitled Confusion over Secure Communities, worried that, "Secure Communities should not allow overzealous local police officers to use arbitrary stops as a way to ensnare illegal immigrants in the deportation web." That is, it shouldn't be an "Arizona" law. But in truth, Secure Communities does more than "allow" local police to "ensnare illegal immigrants in the deportation web," it inextricably ties those communities and any immigrant without a valid visa to that web. News reports this week made clear that local jurisdictions could not "opt-out" of having fingerprints of all persons they arrest sent by the FBI to ICE.
Currently, 660 jurisdictions are part of Secure Communities. The Department of Homeland Security wants every jurisdiction in the country to be in the program by 2013. With this there will be no need for Arizona-style state immigration laws, which most of the country now seems to want. The federal government will be doing the job through the "secure communities" dragnet, using it to deport a half-million or more "illegal immigrants" a year, thus ridding us of those "aliens."
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