Rhode Island AG Signs Up for Secure Communities

by Danny Rangel · 2011-01-19 06:00:00 UTC
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In just a matter of days, Rhode Island has undergone a dramatic turnaround. The state's governor, Lincoln Chafee, had declared that he would rescind an executive order made by his predecessor, effectively ending a federally administered agreement allowing state troopers to enforce national immigration law.

Sounds like a victory right? Not quite. Soon after Governor Chafee's momentous decision, Rhode Island's attorney general, Peter Kilmartin, signed a Secure Communities agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which essentially opens the door for another round of local police enforcement of federal immigration law. Once ICE signs off (and, really, there's no indication that they wouldn't happily approve including another state in their controversial program), the state will have to automatically pony up arrest data to federal immigration officials.

Mr. Chafee insists he is only providing law enforcement officials with the tools necessary to fight crime. Neighborhoods will be safer. Police will finally be free to enhance public safety by ridding Rhode Island of dangerous and violent immigrant/criminal offenders. Our national security is at stake, so no effort will be spared to fight crime.

Sounds great. Except, not surprisingly, immigrant rights activists in Rhode Island and across the country point out that Secure Communities has some very serious flaws. After getting rid of a similar program deputizing police into a federal dragnet of undocumented immigrants, we now face what may be a greater hurdle.

The insensitively-named Secure Communities is a flawed program, and it should not be part of Rhode Island's law enforcement apparatus. From its inception as a local/federal partnership to its implementation as a blind net for any and all those known as undocumented, Secure Communities has dealt a huge blow to the very law enforcement efficiency it was initially created to improve. A significant percentage of those caught in the program's crosshairs have no criminal record to speak of. Dangerous criminals are the target, but too often those simply caught in the wrong place at the wrong time are swept through criminal prosecution and deportation proceedings without the aid of family member or proper legal aid.

Although politicians can easily score points in the conservative base for rounding up "illegals"  and keeping the rest of the public safe, they inadvertently harm the common good by discouraging immigrants from reporting and preventing crime.

No state in the union deserves this kind of help from any federal authority. Tell Attorney General Kilmartin to reject "Secure Communities" in Rhode Island.

Photo credit: Bob B. Brown

Danny Rangel is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles who has worked for the International Rescue Committee and MEND.
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