Vol. 75/No. 34      September 26, 2011

Angela Chan, an attorney with the Asian Law Caucus, pointed out that more than 46,000 people in California have been deported under the program since 2008. Most were arrested for minor offenses. Some hadn’t been convicted of anything, she added.

Lily Haskell of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center underscored the threat to political rights posed by the database being amassed under Secure Communities. “We’ll see more cases of them entrapping people, infiltrating mosques and terrorizing people,” she said.

Chan and other speakers urged participants to support Assembly Bill 1081, which is under debate in the state legislature. The bill stipulates that the state and counties should be allowed to opt out of the Secure Communities program.

After several states moved to withdraw from Secure Communities, Immigration and Customs Enforcement director John Morton announced that the agency will proceed to expand the program nationwide, whether or not state and local officials agree.

AB 1081 argues that Secure Communities undermines local police and makes people less likely to trust or cooperate with the cops. Sheriff Michael Hennessey of San Francisco and other government officials and cop agencies oppose Secure Communities on that basis, not because of the danger it poses to political rights.

Thirty people stayed after the forum to discuss further action. “We should oppose Secure Communities and fight for legalization of all immigrants because this is the just thing to do,” Gerardo Sánchez, Socialist Workers candidate for sheriff of San Francisco, pointed out in the discussion.

“Legalization is a necessity, not only for immigrants but for all working people, so we can unify against the attacks coming down on us.”
 
 
Related articles:
Australian gov’t hits snag in overseas refugee ‘solution’
Indonesian workers jailed for ‘people smuggling’  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home