Cook County Defies Secure Communities Program

Don Babwin writes for the Associated Press:

The release of more than 40 suspected undocumented immigrants jailed in Cook County on felonies has added fuel to a contentious debate over public safety and local authorities’ defiance of a White House program that aims to pursue more criminal deportations.

The program depends on police and sheriff’s deputies to hold suspected illegal immigrants who get arrested beyond the time when they would otherwise be released. But commissioners in the county around Chicago recently adopted a new law that orders the sheriff to ignore all federal requests to detain immigrants after they complete their sentences or post bail.

Other places, such as San Francisco, have taken similar measures, part of a backlash against the Obama administration, which many say is unfairly seeking to deport immigrants accused of traffic violations and other minor offenses. But Cook County’s new ordinance is the first to forbid a sheriff from holding suspected felons as well as those accused of misdemeanors.

. . . Detaining the immigrants is supposed to give federal agents time to pick up the suspects and begin the deportation process. But one after another, local governments have complained about that the Secure Communities program, which gives immigration agents access to fingerprints collected at jails. They say the practice costs too much money and treats immigrants unfairly, especially those accused of only small-time offenses such as shoplifting, traffic violations or drunken driving. Read more…

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