Springfield Rejects S-Comm, Boston Activists Prepare Thousands of Petitions for Mayor Menino

Big news today out of Springfield, Massachusetts: yet another city council has rejected the controversial S-Comm program. “S-Comm” is shorthand for the federal government’s “Secure Communities” deportation program, which has come under fire in recent months for the way that it breaks apart innocent families, targets victims of violence, and erodes community policing efforts by making immigrants fearful of reporting crimes.

Springfield joins LA and Montgomery County, Maryland -- as well as Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts -- in wanting out of the flawed S-Comm program. In fact, the news comes as Boston community activists prepare to deliver thousands of online petition signatures collected by Change.org and Presente.org, calling for an end to the dangerous deportation program in Boston.

The delivery is part of a "Pro-Migrant Day of Action" that includes both anti-S-Comm advocacy and support for the Massachusetts in-state tuition bill that is moving forward this week.  Here are the details for the S-Comm petition delivery:

WHEN:       12 pm ET, Wednesday, July 20, 2011

WHERE:     Boston City Hall

WHO:          Local immigrant advocates and community groups, including:

AFSC Project VOICE, Brazilian Immigrant Center, Boston New Sanctuary Movement, Centro Presente, Chelsea Collaborative, Immigrant Service Providers Group/Health-Somerville, Jobs With Justice - MA, Justice at Work, Neighbors United for a Better East Boston (NUBE), Student Immigrant Movement (SIM), The Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA)

The latest Boston backlash over S-Comm started when a July 3 article in the Boston Globe sparked outrage over the treatment of Lizandra DeMoura, an undocumented youth who had lived the majority of her life in Boston before being ensnared by S-Comm. The story prompted Boston-based immigrant rights advocate and blogger Kyle de Beausset to launch a campaign on Change.org that has attracted hundreds of supporters in a matter of days. The petition has more than 800 signatures and asks Boston’s mayor to pull out of the controversial S-Comm program immediately.

Boston continues to operate the program under an agreement signed in 2006, but one week after De Beausset started the campaign on Change.org, Menino hosted a round table discussion with police chiefs and advocates. Afterward, Mayor Menino took a strong stance against the controversial program, even sending a letter to the Department of Homeland Security that threatened to pull Boston out of the program unless the federal government could guarantee that only criminals would be targeted for deportation.

“As operated now, Secure Communities is diminishing trust, an essential part of the neighborhood fabric and a vital public safety tool,’’ Menino wrote in the letter. “Secure Communities must change substantially or be scrapped.”

National Latino and immigrant advocacy groups like Presente.org quickly alerted their members to gather thousands of messages of support for the Mayor’s decision to speak out, as well as to push for an end to the program in Boston. Signatures from Presente.org supporters and Change.org members will be delivered by Bostonian activists Wednesday.

“It's important to thank Mayor Menino for the steps he's taken, but it's also important to be clear that migrant communities will not feel safe interacting with the police as long as they are forced to check the immigration status of everyone they arrest,” said Change.org petition starter Kyle de Beausset. “Our intention is to thank Mayor Menino, but also to urge him to freeze S-Comm immediately, or at least until the federal government fixes this flawed program.”

Add your voice to tomorrow's action by signing the petition, "Mayor Menino: Thanks For Speaking Out—Let's End S-Comm in Boston"

Already signed? Stay up to date on the latest S-Comm developments and ways to take action -- "like" Change.org's Immigrant Rights page on Facebook and follow us on twitter.

Photo Credit: Common Cause