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On June 5, the Secure Communities program went into effect in
Washington, DC. With this latest expansion, the Secure Communities
program is operating in almost every area across the nation. Run by
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Secure
Communities program requires the fingerprints of all individuals
booked into DC jails to be sent to the FBI and the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS). The agencies cross-reference the
fingerprints with federal immigration databases. ICE can then issue
a detainer request for an individual they wish to remain in
custody. The detainer request asks local law enforcement officials
to hold the individual for up to 48 hours until the ICE can come in
and take over custody.
In response to the activation of Secure Communities, the DC
Council passed an emergency act, the Immigration Detainer
Compliance Amendment Act. The act was designed to address fears of
increased deportation and racial profiling. Under the new
amendment, DC law enforcement will only comply with detainer
requests for individuals who are over the age of 18 and have been
convicted of a serious crime. DC previously tried to completely opt
out of the Secure Communities Program, but ICE insisted that
participation was mandatory. States and the District of Columbia
can opt out of receiving the results of the fingerprint check, but
they are required to participate and send the prints to the federal
agencies. Members of the DC Council and Mayor Vincent Gray have
both expressed concern about the potential problems Secure
Communities can create. A central fear among the immigrant
community and immigration advocates is enhanced deportation of
low-priority immigrants that do not have serious criminal
histories.
The Secure Communities Program is fully active nationwide,
prompting some states to take action similar to Washington, DC. New
York Governor Andrew Cuomo temporarily suspended the program and
the California State Senate is currently considering the TRUST Act.
Just as with DC's Immigration Detainer Compliance Amendment
Act, state authorities would only respond to detainer requests for
individuals convicted of "serious" or "violent"
crimes if the TRUST Act passes. Cook County, Illinois adopted an
ordinance in September 2011 that ordered local law enforcement to
ignore detainer requests unless the cost of additional holding time
was reimbursed by the federal government. Immigration activists in
Washington state and Massachusetts are urging their state
legislatures to take similar steps to curb the negative effects of
Secure Communities.
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On March 8, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a revised Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, bearing an edition date of March 8, 2013, for immediate use by employers.
EB-2 category for all chargeable areas other than China and India remains current, with some considerable forward movement but continued backlog in the EB-3 category.
A bipartisan group of eight U.S. senators has introduced the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, an 844-page bill that aims to bolster border security and seeks to provide some of the nation's 11 million undocumented people with a path to citizenship.
The White House Immigration Action Newsletter - March 2013 (Video Content)
