by Yasmine Regester
Carolina Peacemaker
Originally posted 8/11/2010
Plans are underway to turn the existing Guilford County jail in Greensboro into a for-profit detention center.
FaithAction International House, an organization that advocates for immigrant and refugee rights, is voicing concerns that law enforcement will be looking for people to detain in order to recoup some of the new jail costs. “I think it’s a really bad policy for us to be trying to raise money by incarcerating people. It creates a conflict of interest for law enforcement because it causes them to focus on capturing people and getting them in jail because there is a profit to be made, rather than on protecting public safety. It goes against every value that professional law enforcement should be upholding,” said Rev. Mark Sills, executive director of FaithAction International House.
He added, “This is a huge incentive to look for people to incarcerate, it just won’t be undocumented immigrants, they (law enforcement) will be looking for every excuse possible to fill up those beds.” Sills also accused Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes of stating publicly that the old jail will house federal inmates and immigrant detainees.
Barnes said, “Immigrant detainees are federal inmates. The state doesn’t deport people, the federal government does. We will house anybody they (federal government) want to put in there. That will be their call.”
Barnes says he is looking for ways to pay for the new jail and has found the solution in the old jail. He has proposed to use the existing Guilford County jail in Greensboro to house federal inmates. According to Barnes, this strategy will shift the tax burden of operating the new jail from the county to the federal government. “Basically what we’re looking to do is house federal prisoners which we are paid for by the federal government,” said Barnes. A $115 bond referendum approved in November 2008 for a new county jail has been put towards new jail construction costs and renovation costs to the old jail.
Once construction on the new jail is complete, renovations on the old building will begin. “The old building needs to be refurbished; once that is completed it will be eligible to receive inmates such as Mecklenburg and Alamance County does. Jails all across the state keep federal prisoners but we can’t because we are overcrowded. We can end up making enough money to take care of the debt service on the new jail, which will make it a lot easier on citizens because it is less they will have to pay,” said Barnes. Debt service consists of day to day operation costs, which Barnes says is about $10 million a year, and repayment for the new jail.
Barnes noted there are no private companies involved and the jail will be run by the sheriff’s department.
According to Barnes, Mecklenburg County gets a little more than $100 a day to house federal inmates. “I think Mecklenburg County gets about $100 a day per inmate, so I’m hoping somewhere in that ballpark. We’re talking about money that local taxpayers won’t have to pay towards the repayment of building the new jail.”
Since the Middle District of North Carolina’s federal court is located in Greensboro, Barnes believes having a local federal prison will help eliminate heavy costs and hassle of transporting inmates from other cities to Greensboro.
“We used to keep federal inmates and it generated money to go towards a revenue source to help the county pay for the operation of their jails.” Barnes noted that there could be legal complications from turning a profit on housing federal inmates in the new jail because bond money is being used to pay for construction. Therefore, the new jail will not be used as a federal prison but will free up space in the existing Guilford County jail which is already paid for.
Gerald Chapman, immigration attorney at Chapman Law Firm in Greensboro believes that a detention center in Greensboro will increase fear within the community, particularly the immigrant community. “The fear is already there. The immigrant community already feels that law enforcement has got it in for them. The fact that we will have a federal detention facility here in Guilford County is more geography than anything. The real issue is the administration’s emphasis on enforcement and appropriate strategies for dealing with the undocumented population. The fact that we will have a detention facility that will hold people in federal immigration detention temporarily, I think its part of a real bad idea.”
Chapman also noted that if government wants to secure the borders a more comprehensive worker visa program needs to be created that will make the legal system work for both the worker and the employer. “With a worker visa program in place, you won’t need to have this kind of enforcement. We are spending so much money on this, it is absolutely astounding,” said Chapman.
According to the county’s law enforcement officials, Guilford County’s jail has long ago reached capacity, exceeding the 397 limit with a total inmate population currently at 507. The new completed jail will have seven floors, housing a combination of individual cells, dormitory cells, and four man cells, as well as recreation centers, a medical and dental center. There will also be 45 beds designated for substance abuse inmates. Renovations on the old jail will include a new sprinkler system, and improvements to the building to aid in the supervision of inmates.
http://www.carolinapeacemaker.com/news/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=104703&sID=4&ItemSource=L
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
All U.S. counties on Mexican border now share inmate fingerprints with feds
Homeland Security Newswire
August, 11, 2010
All 25 U.S. counties along the Mexican border are now enrolled in the Secure Communities project; federal immigration officials now have access to the prints of every inmate booked into jail in these counties; Secure Communities makes the notification automatic; Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which plans to implement the program nationwide by 2013, says the program has identified more than 262,900 illegal immigrants in jails and prisons who have been charged with or convicted of criminal offenses, including more than 39,000 charged with or convicted of violent offenses or major drug crimes; ICE expects to remove 400,000 illegal immigrants this year; of the 200,000 illegal immigrants deported in the first ten months of fiscal year 2010, 142,000 illegal immigrants were with criminal records and about 50,000 were noncriminals; immigrant advocates say that some counties use Secure Communities to deport noncriminals: the national average of noncriminals flagged by Secure Communities is about 28 percent, but in Travis County, Texas, 82 percent of those removed through Secure Communities were noncriminals
Sharing of fingerprints in the Secure Communities program has led to hundreds of thousands of deportations // Source: sanfranciscosentinel.com
U.S. Immigration officials now have access to the fingerprints of every inmate booked into jail in all twenty-five U.S. counties along the Mexican border, DHS secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday, saying the program was a way of identifying and deporting “criminal aliens.”
Napolitano’s announcement came as immigrant rights activists criticized the fingerprinting program, known as Secure Communities, after obtaining documents showing that more than a quarter of those deported under its auspices had no criminal records (“Fingerprint sharing through Secure Communities led to deportation of 47,000,” 10 August 2010 HSNW).
Read more:
http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/all-us-counties-mexican-border-now-share-inmate-fingerprints-feds
August, 11, 2010
All 25 U.S. counties along the Mexican border are now enrolled in the Secure Communities project; federal immigration officials now have access to the prints of every inmate booked into jail in these counties; Secure Communities makes the notification automatic; Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which plans to implement the program nationwide by 2013, says the program has identified more than 262,900 illegal immigrants in jails and prisons who have been charged with or convicted of criminal offenses, including more than 39,000 charged with or convicted of violent offenses or major drug crimes; ICE expects to remove 400,000 illegal immigrants this year; of the 200,000 illegal immigrants deported in the first ten months of fiscal year 2010, 142,000 illegal immigrants were with criminal records and about 50,000 were noncriminals; immigrant advocates say that some counties use Secure Communities to deport noncriminals: the national average of noncriminals flagged by Secure Communities is about 28 percent, but in Travis County, Texas, 82 percent of those removed through Secure Communities were noncriminals
Sharing of fingerprints in the Secure Communities program has led to hundreds of thousands of deportations // Source: sanfranciscosentinel.com
U.S. Immigration officials now have access to the fingerprints of every inmate booked into jail in all twenty-five U.S. counties along the Mexican border, DHS secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday, saying the program was a way of identifying and deporting “criminal aliens.”
Napolitano’s announcement came as immigrant rights activists criticized the fingerprinting program, known as Secure Communities, after obtaining documents showing that more than a quarter of those deported under its auspices had no criminal records (“Fingerprint sharing through Secure Communities led to deportation of 47,000,” 10 August 2010 HSNW).
Read more:
http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/all-us-counties-mexican-border-now-share-inmate-fingerprints-feds
Rights Groups Release Documents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency FOIA Lawsuit, Reveal Federal Government Has Been Dishonest with State and Local Police about its “Secure Communities” Program
Groups Call “Secure Communities” Program a Racial Profiling Dragnet That Undermines Community Policing and Public Safety
August 10, 2010, New York, NY — Today, the National Day Laborer Organization Network (NDLON), the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), and the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law released internal government documents newly obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed in a New York federal court in April. According to advocates who have reviewed the documents, they reveal a pattern of dishonesty regarding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency’s “Secure Communities” (S-Comm) program. While ICE officials have declared their intention to expand S-Comm into every jurisdiction in the country by 2013, information about the nascent program has been scarce, and the development of operational details has been shrouded in secrecy.
S-Comm, which currently operates in 494 jurisdictions in 27 states, functions like the controversial 287(g) program and Arizona’s SB1070, making state and local police central to the enforcement of federal immigration law. The program automatically runs fingerprints through immigration databases for all people arrested and targets them for detention and deportation even if their criminal charges are minor, eventually dismissed, or the result of an unlawful arrest.
After reviewing the ICE documents and other information, advocates for NDLON v. ICE found evidence supporting the following primary claims. First, that ICE has been dishonest with the public and with local law enforcement regarding S-Comm’s true mission and impact. While ICE markets S-Comm as an efficient, narrowly tailored tool that targets “high threat” immigrants, it actually functions as a dragnet for funneling people into the mismanaged ICE detention and removal system. ICE’s own records show that the vast majority (79%) of people deported due to S-Comm are not criminals or were picked up for lower level offenses. Second, that the program serves as a smokescreen for racial profiling, allowing police officers to stop people based solely on their appearance and arrest non-citizens, knowing that they will be deported, even if they were wrongfully arrested and are never convicted. Preliminary data confirms that some jurisdictions, such as Maricopa County Arizona, have abnormally high rates of non-criminal S-Comm deportations. And lastly, the impression ICE fosters that S-Comm is not mandatory and jurisdictions can opt out is riddled with questions.
In fact, California Representative Zoe Lofgren, Chair of the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law, wrote a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asking for clarification on the program. The July 27 letter, which had not previously been made public, is available here.
“These records reveal a dangerous trend,” said Pablo Alvarado, NDLON Executive Director. “This program creates an explosion of Arizona-like enforcement at a time when the results have proven disastrous. Thanks to S-Comm, we face the potential proliferation of racial profiling, distrust of local police, fear, and xenophobia to every zip code in America.”
Said CCR attorney Sunita Patel, “S-Comm co-opts local police departments to do ICE’s dirty work at significant cost to community relations and police objectives. Without full and truthful information about the program’s actual mission and impact, police are operating in the dark. The bottom line is that thrusting police into the business of federal immigration enforcement isn’t good for anyone.”
Said Bridget Kessler, Clinical Teaching Fellow at the Immigration Justice Clinic of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, “ICE is racing forward imposing its S-Comm program on new states and localities every day, without any meaningful dialog or public debate. ICE should immediately release the full data that communities need to understand the true costs of the S-Comm program.”
The three organizations will continue to litigate for the release of more data and records to uncover the truth behind S-Comm and other ICE efforts to draft local police into immigration enforcement.
Visit CCR’s NDLON v. ICE case page to read a fact sheet with citations, the text of the administrative FOIA request, the lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York on April 27, 2010 and the documents ICE released on August 2, 2010.
Read more: http://uncoverthetruth.org/rights-groups-release-documents-from-u-s-immigration-and-customs-enforcement-ice-agency-foia-lawsuit-reveal-federal-government-has-been-dishonest-with-state-and-local-police-about-its-“sec
August 10, 2010, New York, NY — Today, the National Day Laborer Organization Network (NDLON), the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), and the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law released internal government documents newly obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed in a New York federal court in April. According to advocates who have reviewed the documents, they reveal a pattern of dishonesty regarding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency’s “Secure Communities” (S-Comm) program. While ICE officials have declared their intention to expand S-Comm into every jurisdiction in the country by 2013, information about the nascent program has been scarce, and the development of operational details has been shrouded in secrecy.
S-Comm, which currently operates in 494 jurisdictions in 27 states, functions like the controversial 287(g) program and Arizona’s SB1070, making state and local police central to the enforcement of federal immigration law. The program automatically runs fingerprints through immigration databases for all people arrested and targets them for detention and deportation even if their criminal charges are minor, eventually dismissed, or the result of an unlawful arrest.
After reviewing the ICE documents and other information, advocates for NDLON v. ICE found evidence supporting the following primary claims. First, that ICE has been dishonest with the public and with local law enforcement regarding S-Comm’s true mission and impact. While ICE markets S-Comm as an efficient, narrowly tailored tool that targets “high threat” immigrants, it actually functions as a dragnet for funneling people into the mismanaged ICE detention and removal system. ICE’s own records show that the vast majority (79%) of people deported due to S-Comm are not criminals or were picked up for lower level offenses. Second, that the program serves as a smokescreen for racial profiling, allowing police officers to stop people based solely on their appearance and arrest non-citizens, knowing that they will be deported, even if they were wrongfully arrested and are never convicted. Preliminary data confirms that some jurisdictions, such as Maricopa County Arizona, have abnormally high rates of non-criminal S-Comm deportations. And lastly, the impression ICE fosters that S-Comm is not mandatory and jurisdictions can opt out is riddled with questions.
In fact, California Representative Zoe Lofgren, Chair of the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law, wrote a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asking for clarification on the program. The July 27 letter, which had not previously been made public, is available here.
“These records reveal a dangerous trend,” said Pablo Alvarado, NDLON Executive Director. “This program creates an explosion of Arizona-like enforcement at a time when the results have proven disastrous. Thanks to S-Comm, we face the potential proliferation of racial profiling, distrust of local police, fear, and xenophobia to every zip code in America.”
Said CCR attorney Sunita Patel, “S-Comm co-opts local police departments to do ICE’s dirty work at significant cost to community relations and police objectives. Without full and truthful information about the program’s actual mission and impact, police are operating in the dark. The bottom line is that thrusting police into the business of federal immigration enforcement isn’t good for anyone.”
Said Bridget Kessler, Clinical Teaching Fellow at the Immigration Justice Clinic of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, “ICE is racing forward imposing its S-Comm program on new states and localities every day, without any meaningful dialog or public debate. ICE should immediately release the full data that communities need to understand the true costs of the S-Comm program.”
The three organizations will continue to litigate for the release of more data and records to uncover the truth behind S-Comm and other ICE efforts to draft local police into immigration enforcement.
Visit CCR’s NDLON v. ICE case page to read a fact sheet with citations, the text of the administrative FOIA request, the lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York on April 27, 2010 and the documents ICE released on August 2, 2010.
Read more: http://uncoverthetruth.org/rights-groups-release-documents-from-u-s-immigration-and-customs-enforcement-ice-agency-foia-lawsuit-reveal-federal-government-has-been-dishonest-with-state-and-local-police-about-its-“sec
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
House approves more agents, drones on border
By CHARLES BABINGTON
The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 10, 2010; 3:48 PM
Washington Press http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/10/AR2010081002464.html
WASHINGTON -- In a rare moment of bipartisanship Tuesday, the House approved $600 million to pay for more unmanned surveillance drones and about 1,500 more agents along the troubled Mexican border.
Getting tougher on border security is one of the few issues that both parties agree on in this highly charged election season. But lawmakers remain deeply divided over a more comprehensive approach to the illegal immigration problem, and it's unclear if Congress will go beyond border-tightening efforts.
The House passed the bill by voice vote after brief debate and the Senate passed an identical bill last week. But senators must act again, for technical reasons, before sending the bill to President Barack Obama for his signature.
Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, said leaders hope they can give the bill final passage by the end of the week, even though the full Senate is not in session.
The bill would offset its costs by raising fees on foreign-based personnel companies that use U.S. visa programs to bring skilled workers to the United States. These include the popular H-1B visa program. India says higher fees would discriminate against its companies and workers.
The bill includes $176 million for 1,000 new border patrol agents to form a strike force to be deployed at critical areas, $89 million for another 500 customs and immigration personnel, and $32 million to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles or drones.
It also provides $196 million for the Justice Department to bolster its forces of U.S. marshals, and FBI, DEA and ATF agents along the border.
Congress and the White House felt a greater urgency to act on border security after Arizona passed a law directing its law enforcement officers to be more aggressive in seeking out illegal immigrants. A federal judge struck down the law's main provisions, but many voters throughout the country favor crackdowns on illegal immigration.
Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., asked the Senate to move quickly. She said it's time for the federal government "to stop letting us down and start getting the job done" on tighter border security.
The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 10, 2010; 3:48 PM
Washington Press http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/10/AR2010081002464.html
WASHINGTON -- In a rare moment of bipartisanship Tuesday, the House approved $600 million to pay for more unmanned surveillance drones and about 1,500 more agents along the troubled Mexican border.
Getting tougher on border security is one of the few issues that both parties agree on in this highly charged election season. But lawmakers remain deeply divided over a more comprehensive approach to the illegal immigration problem, and it's unclear if Congress will go beyond border-tightening efforts.
The House passed the bill by voice vote after brief debate and the Senate passed an identical bill last week. But senators must act again, for technical reasons, before sending the bill to President Barack Obama for his signature.
Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, said leaders hope they can give the bill final passage by the end of the week, even though the full Senate is not in session.
The bill would offset its costs by raising fees on foreign-based personnel companies that use U.S. visa programs to bring skilled workers to the United States. These include the popular H-1B visa program. India says higher fees would discriminate against its companies and workers.
The bill includes $176 million for 1,000 new border patrol agents to form a strike force to be deployed at critical areas, $89 million for another 500 customs and immigration personnel, and $32 million to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles or drones.
It also provides $196 million for the Justice Department to bolster its forces of U.S. marshals, and FBI, DEA and ATF agents along the border.
Congress and the White House felt a greater urgency to act on border security after Arizona passed a law directing its law enforcement officers to be more aggressive in seeking out illegal immigrants. A federal judge struck down the law's main provisions, but many voters throughout the country favor crackdowns on illegal immigration.
Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., asked the Senate to move quickly. She said it's time for the federal government "to stop letting us down and start getting the job done" on tighter border security.
Dems Blasted for Border Bill
By CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN
8/6/10 http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40765.html
Immigration reform advocates blasted Democrats on Friday for pushing a $600 million border security bill through the Senate, accusing them of trying to placate Republicans who will never be satisfied with the government’s enforcement efforts.
“It is really unfortunate, misguided and a major political misstep,” said Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change, an immigrant rights group. “There will need to be a lot of repair work by the Democrat leadership with the immigrant advocacy community.”
In an unexpected move Thursday night, Senate Democrats won approval of a $600 million bill that includes money for 1,500 new border personnel, a pair of unmanned drones and military-style bases along the border. The bill by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), which fulfills a request from President Barack Obama, heads to the House for a final vote as early as next week.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Schumer and McCaskill told reporters in a conference call Friday that the bill paves the way for consideration of a comprehensive reform bill.
“My view is that we had a whole lot of people, both moderate Democrats and Republicans, who said they wouldn’t consider comprehensive reform until we did something about the border,” Schumer said. “It is smart, it is tough, it not punitive. It furthers the ability to get comprehensive reform done.”
But advocates said Republicans outsmarted Democrats, calling their bluff by agreeing to pass the bill by unanimous consent Thursday night. Schumer had introduced the bill only a few hours earlier, leading advocates to surmise that the Democrats never expected the GOP to accept the measure.
“They ate the Democrats’ lunch,” Bhargava said of Republicans, adding that the immigrant advocacy community was in “shock.”
The sharp criticism from immigration groups underscores the divide between advocates and congressional Democrats on political strategy.
Advocates want Democrats to remain focused on passing a comprehensive reform bill that includes a legalization program for 11 million undocumented immigrants, as well as a temporary worker program, an employment verification system and border security measures.
Passing a stand-alone border bill eliminated a bargaining chip for Democrats, they said.
Republicans won't consider any measures other than those that boost enforcement. And since Democrats do not have the numbers to move a comprehensive overhaul on their own, they are trying to meet Republican demands — in hopes that the GOP will accede to a broader reform early next year.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40765.html#ixzz0wDbC3ibF
8/6/10 http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40765.html
Immigration reform advocates blasted Democrats on Friday for pushing a $600 million border security bill through the Senate, accusing them of trying to placate Republicans who will never be satisfied with the government’s enforcement efforts.
“It is really unfortunate, misguided and a major political misstep,” said Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change, an immigrant rights group. “There will need to be a lot of repair work by the Democrat leadership with the immigrant advocacy community.”
In an unexpected move Thursday night, Senate Democrats won approval of a $600 million bill that includes money for 1,500 new border personnel, a pair of unmanned drones and military-style bases along the border. The bill by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), which fulfills a request from President Barack Obama, heads to the House for a final vote as early as next week.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Schumer and McCaskill told reporters in a conference call Friday that the bill paves the way for consideration of a comprehensive reform bill.
“My view is that we had a whole lot of people, both moderate Democrats and Republicans, who said they wouldn’t consider comprehensive reform until we did something about the border,” Schumer said. “It is smart, it is tough, it not punitive. It furthers the ability to get comprehensive reform done.”
But advocates said Republicans outsmarted Democrats, calling their bluff by agreeing to pass the bill by unanimous consent Thursday night. Schumer had introduced the bill only a few hours earlier, leading advocates to surmise that the Democrats never expected the GOP to accept the measure.
“They ate the Democrats’ lunch,” Bhargava said of Republicans, adding that the immigrant advocacy community was in “shock.”
The sharp criticism from immigration groups underscores the divide between advocates and congressional Democrats on political strategy.
Advocates want Democrats to remain focused on passing a comprehensive reform bill that includes a legalization program for 11 million undocumented immigrants, as well as a temporary worker program, an employment verification system and border security measures.
Passing a stand-alone border bill eliminated a bargaining chip for Democrats, they said.
Republicans won't consider any measures other than those that boost enforcement. And since Democrats do not have the numbers to move a comprehensive overhaul on their own, they are trying to meet Republican demands — in hopes that the GOP will accede to a broader reform early next year.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40765.html#ixzz0wDbC3ibF
Students Spared Amid an Increase in Deportations
By JULIA PRESTON
Published: August 8, 2010
New York Times
The Obama administration, while deporting a record number of immigrants convicted of crimes, is sparing one group of illegal immigrants from expulsion: students who came to the United States without papers when they were children.
Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/us/09students.html
Published: August 8, 2010
New York Times
The Obama administration, while deporting a record number of immigrants convicted of crimes, is sparing one group of illegal immigrants from expulsion: students who came to the United States without papers when they were children.
Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/us/09students.html
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