Richard Chacon and Patricia Montes in front of the governor's office. - Photo by Andrew Firestone

 Secure Communities would identify illegal immigrants for deportation
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By Andrew Firestone

Representatives from a dozen immigrant organizations marched on the office of Governor Deval Patrick Dec. 22 to urge him to not sign onto the Secure Communities program.

The protesters were led by Somerville-based immigrant advocates Centro Presente.

Somerville activists made their way to Patrick’s office after holding a rally in front of the State House, and presented Director of the Office for Refugees and Immigrants Richard Chacon with a letter outlining their fears.

The Secure Communities program, created by the Federal Department of Homeland Security, would use biometric data taken from fingerprints of felony arrests and cross-reference them with Immigrant and Customs Enforcement databases in an effort to identify and deport illegal immigrants.

“We don’t want to see problems like Secure Communities being implemented in Massachusetts and in any other state, because this problem is going to continue criminalizing the presence of undocumented immigrants in this society,” said Patricia Montes. A crowd of around 40 rallied around her as she presented the letter to Chacon.

Chacon said the administration was sensitive to the immigrant community’s fears. “We expect that this is going to be an ongoing conversation,” said Chacon. “Nothing has been signed, nothing is going to be signed in the immediate.”

The protest came after Patrick announced last week that he would approve the law enforcement program. However, Patrick previously said he would not sign onto the program without more comprehensive understanding of Secure Communities itself.

- Photo by Andrew Firestone

“Maybe he’s backing off, I don’t know,” said State Representative Denise Provost (D, Somerville). “It is a federal program. There continues to be dispute about whether it is possible to opt out.”

The impasse occurs less than one year after Patrick criticized strict immigration policies in Arizona and two months after Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone said he would not cooperate with ICE to police immigrant communities in Somerville.

Undersecretary of Forensic Science and Technology Jonathan Grossman said  there was little leeway in the language used in Secure Communities and while there would be some discretion regarding fingerprinting of misdemeanors in local law enforcement, he said “the federal government is telling us at this point that there is no ‘opt in’ or ‘opt out.’”

However, Centro Presente President Gabriel Camacho said Secure Communities is not a law. “It was not enacted by an act of congress, it is only an enforcement program by [the Department of] Homeland Securities,” he said. “We have been urging counties and municipalities in the state to opt out of operating and implementing Secure Communities.”

As debate on Beacon Hill continues, immigrant communities in Massachusetts still await Patrick’s decision. “I don’t want to work in the State of Arizona,” said Reverend Fred Small of the Unitarian Church of Cambridge, “and Secure Communities puts us on that road.”