Last Friday the Secure Communities Task Force, of which Dallas County sheriff Lupe Valdez is a member, issued a report of its findings and recommendations. Secure Communities is a controversial program in which fingerprints of persons arrested by state and local law enforcement agencies are automatically shared with DHS. The Task Force made several findings and recommendations, including that the government needs to conduct more education on the program, clarify how it works, and ensure that the program is implemented with consistency and transparency. For the complete report, please click here.
Several members of the Task Force did not agree with the findings, believing that Secure Communities should be revamped or terminated completely. For more information, please see this article.
HRI participated in the August 9, 2011 Field Meeting on Secure Communities, and stated our position that this program makes it less likely that our clients who are immigrant victims of serious crimes will report these offenses to law enforcement. Immigrants needs to be confident that when they are reporting crimes they will not be putting their lives at risk, and they need to build trust and cooperation with local police departments.
