287(g) Is Being Replaced By ICE's "Secure Communities" Program...287(g) In High Heels??

If you recall I published two posts last week entitled "Ruthless Gangs are taking over North Carolina" and "Forbes Ranks Charlotte 14Th Most Dangerous U.S. City".

Those stories explain how Gang activity often related to the Illegal Immigrant population (not always but frequently enough), has negatively impacted American communities.

Previously the only Federal resource available to assist local Law Enforcement agencies with Illegal Immigration regulation was the controversial 287(g) program.

287(g) established in 1996, is a component of the Federal ICE (United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement) department. ICE falls under the umbrella of Homeland Security currently managed by Janet Napolitano.

The mission of ICE is to protect National Security by enforcing our nation's Customs and Immigration laws.

287(g)'s initial purpose 287(g) was to equip and authorize state and local law enforcement agencies with the legal tools necessary to perform similar duties of Federal Immigration Law Enforcement. In other words assist the "Immigration Feds" with doing their jobs.

Well now due to abuse of the program's mission, 287(g) has come under fire from the ACLU and many Latino/ Hispanic organizations who claim that 287(g) was in fact being used by Racist Sheriff and Police Departments nationwide to deport Latinos/Hispanics who only committed Minor Offenses.

The ACLU and Latino/Hispanic organizations had good reason to be concerned. Why?

The Bush Administration while pre-occupied with the "War on Terror", failed to properly regulate the Dept of Homeland Security. That failure then created a myriad of other problems, which resulted in more complaints of abuse.

Several years ago there was a best-selling Children's book authored by Laura Joffe Numeroff. It was titled "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie". The moral of that story was if you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to eat it, which can then set off a snowball effect for other related problems. What else can you expect from a mouse right?

This same concept can also be applied to a bunch of Hick, Trigger Happy Law Enforcement officials just itching to practice Racial Profiling in the name of "Illegal Immigration Enforcement".

Of course you had Hispanics and Latinos being deported for Minor Criminal Offenses or DWL (Driving while Latino)!

For example: Getting a Speeding Ticket. What did you think those kind of Officers and Deputies were going to do?

This situation is no different than how the Black Community has been treated for decades in this country.

Whenever the Feds authorize State and Local Law Enforcement agencies without proper regulation to practice Enforcement, you will always have a few nuts (Police Officers, Sheriffs, Deputies, etc.,) with the propensity to demonstrate how much they hate Blacks or Hispanics, to show their true colors.

On the other hand, when investigating such claims one still has to do their homework.

While its true there were some Latino/Hispanic residents arrested in the U.S. and deported due to having only committed Minor Criminal Offenses, upon completion of an International Criminal background check conducted by ICE personnel, it was later discovered that many of them were also wanted by Law Enforcement officials in their native countries for having committed more serious crimes. For example: Murder, Manslaughter, Human and Drug Trafficking, Robbery, etc.,

In defense of the U.S. Deportation Policies, if those same people were in the United States LEGALLY or in possession of VISAs, they would not have been deported right?

So you have to consider both sides of the scale when listening to such claims.

Nevertheless, obviously the Federal Government received enough negative reports about 287(g) because now another program is being rolled out called "Secure Communities".

(Sidebar: Imagine that! The Black Community has been speaking out about Racial Profiling for years but neither the Federal Government nor state/local Law Enforcement agencies have ever listened to us.)

Secure Communities is supposed to be provide more comprehensive Illegal Immigration with a broader range of Federal Regulation, to ensure that state and local enforcement agencies are not abusing the purpose of the program's mission while identifying the most Violent Illegal Immigrant criminals.

However the Latino/Hispanic community isn't buying it. They basically see Secure Communities as a dressed up version of 287(g) wearing high heels.

The Latino/Hispanic population is fearful that Secure Communities will just give state and local Law Enforcement officers more motive to target their ethnic group.

To that I say welcome to the club hombre!

By the same token this extra Illegal Immigration Regulation should encourage those residents living here unlawfully to step up and begin the process of becoming LEGAL citizens.

People living here ILLEGALLY can't expect to have their cake and eat it too!

If your tired of being Tasered often for NO apparent reason other than just because of your physical appearance, STOP complaining and go down to your nearest Immigration office to find out how to begin the U.S. Citizenship process. (You can also call them @1-800-375-5283)

And....STOP committing Violent Crimes or participating in Gang activity!

In the mean time AFTER you've taken that FIRST step, if you strongly believe the Cops or Sheriff Deputies in your region are using you as their latest poster child for Racial Profiling seminars, THEN and only then do you contact the ACLU regarding filing a Violation of Human Rights Lawsuit.

As it relates to the "Secure Communities" program, I won't judge a book by its cover unless the content inside doesn't match up with the title and proves itself to be a fraud.



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Sources: Charlotte Observer, White House.gov, ICE.gov, DHS.gov, US Immigration Support, NAACP, Field Negro, Hispanic News, ACLU, Amazon.com, Wikipedia, Forbes, Flickr, Google Maps