Immigration Crackdown: Opinion | Fed's immigration enforcement strategies increasingly criminalize immigrants

An opinion on the damage and dangers of the Secure Communities Program by Ann Benson, directing attorney for the (State of ) Washington (Public) Defender Association's Immigration Project. Washington State has chosen not to join Secure Communities, but to leave it to each local jurisdiction to decide whether or not to participate.

Opinion | Fed's immigration enforcement strategies increasingly criminalize immigrants | Seattle Times Newspaper: "Whether you support ICE's (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) efforts, its own statistics reveal the majority of people being swept up into this expanding (Secure Communities) dragnet are not 'serious criminal aliens.' Most are working-class immigrants of color with no significant criminal history.

However, the poisonous cacophony of anti-immigrant hysteria currently dominating the immigration debate has made clear that designating as many immigrants as possible as criminals ensures a steady flow of congressional cash to ICE's enforcement regime. It also obscures the real costs of these programs to our communities." Dec. 10, 2010