Immigration Crackdown 'Light': ICE to promote softer image, activists not buying it

ICE to promote softer image, activists not buying it » peoplesworld: "The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, plans to promote a lighter image here through a new 'community outreach program,' but immigrant and community activists are not convinced.

Immigration officials say the program will be unveiled during a kickoff event at the University of Illinois at Chicago April 11. The program's motto, which some argue can be taken literally is, 'Taking it to the streets.'...

However, the plan has drawn fierce criticism from some, most notably the Illinois Coalition for Immigration and Refugee Rights, the state's largest immigrant rights advocacy group. The group blasted the program and said in a statement that it's a "desperate response by a rouge agency that is destroying thousands of families a week to fix its image among immigrants." The statement adds the plan amounts to nothing more than "trying to put lipstick on a very ugly pig."

Furthermore, the coalition said, "We urge the Department of Homeland Security to improve its relations with immigrant communities by obeying the wishes of President Obama and focusing its efforts on deporting immigrants who are an actual danger to our communities, rather than grandmothers, parents, and spouses who are only here to contribute with their hard work.""