By Douglas Yu

Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone has taken what he describes as a “pro-safety and pro-family” action by signing an executive order to withdraw the city from the Secure Communities program, a program initially enacted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to remove illegal aliens who pose a threat to public safety.

Curtatone calls the program “a flawed federal program that has left communities less safe, torn apart families and deported people with no criminal convictions.”

In Massachusetts alone, there have been more than 1,000 deportations since the program was enacted two years ago, and 61 percent of the deportees show no criminal records, according to Curtatone. Meanwhile, ICE has admitted that about 5 percent of people who were detained by the ICE are U.S. citizens.

“For two years, we’ve been told that we don’t know what’s the best for our community and how to keep our community safe,” Curtatone said at a press conference held at City Hall Wednesday morning. “Like so many actions, Secure Communities began with the best intentions, but in practice, this program just tears apart families who have committed no crimes.”

Curtatone pointed out that the Secure Communities program does however “deports law-biding individuals for offenses as small as a broken tail light, and ask our law enforcement officials to not use their best judgment and discretion, but instead to blindly hold individuals for immigration with no probable cause – an act that a federal court recently ruled is a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

“This is a broken system that everyone knows is broken and crying out for reform,” Curtatone said. “Crime in Somerville is down by one-third since 2008, not because we put more officers on the street or deported people with no criminal convictions. We make Somerville safer because we addressed every factor that affects public safety.”

The Secure Communities program allows ICE to ask local law enforcement to hold arrested immigrants for up to 48 hours after the person has posted bail or been ordered released by the courts. On the national level, half of the people deported through Secure Communities have no criminal convictions.

“[The program] pushes people into the background and into the shadows and discourages witnesses and victims from cooperating with police,” Curtatone said.

By now, more than 60 municipalities across the country, including New Orleans, Newark, N.J., Miami, San Francisco and New York City have modified their policies on ICE holds. In addition, both California and Connecticut have passed statewide TRUST Acts, which is legislation that limits the state’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities by only holding immigrants for ICE who have criminal records.

The Massachusetts Legislature will also curtail the program’s scope within the state by mandating that individuals ordered released by Massachusetts judges and magistrates will not be detained for ICE in spite of the court’s release order, that those with criminal records will go to ICE, and those without criminal records will not.

“We are not interested in those persecuting those individuals; we are interested in protecting those individuals,” Alderman at Large John Connolly, who is also chairman of the Public Safety and Health Committee of the Board of the Alderman, said.

Ward 5 Alderman Mark Niedergang also attended the press conference to support Curtatone’s decision. Before Niedergang took office as alderman this January, he had been part of the Somerville School Committee for eight years. During the time, the committee would contact people who are isolated because some of their family members are deported on a weekly basis.

“It’s been clear how much pain [deportation] caused in our community to the people who are among the most vulnerable,” Niedergang said.

Laura Rotolo, attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts (ACLU), thinks that Somerville’s putting a limit on the extent of voluntary collaboration between the city and State Police and ICE sends two important messages.

“It sends a message to the Somerville community and another message to the federal government,” Rotolo said. “It says that Somerville will let the police do their job and the immigration enforcement do their job, so that you need not fear a simple 911 call or a traffic infraction will put you into a deportation pipeline. It also sends a message that the immigration policies are fundamentally broken.”

Rotolo called on the Massachusetts Legislature to pass on a proposed Massachusetts Trust Act, and for the 350 other cities and towns in Massachusetts to follow Somerville’s lead to come up with their own immigration policies.

One of the local journalists present Wednesday asked whether Curtatone would change his mind if Nicolas Guaman, an illegal immigrant in the U.S. for nine years who was recently convicted on manslaughter charges after striking and killing a Milford teenager with his truck while drunk, had killed a Somerville High School Student.

“He should face the justice system, and he should face the punishment he should face,” Curtatone said.

“We hear and know the fear that people feel about being picked up,” Curtatone explained as to why some residents in Somerville are afraid of reporting crimes, because they have undocumented relatives and concern that they will be found out.

Curtatone confirmed that the Somerville Police Department is going to continue to work with ICE to find individuals who have been convicted of crimes. That, however, will take place within the criminal warrant system.

“Laws like this [Secure Communities] just don’t have the impact that it intends to have,” Curtatone said. “If we want to keep our community safe, we have to earn the trust in the community. We have to protect the families.”