August 17, Dear Secure Communities Task Force Member:

Transcription

1 August 17, 2011 Dear Secure Communities Task Force Member: We are writing to formally request that you resign from the task force established by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to advise the agency on ways to improve Secure Communities. While we appreciate your sincere effort to respond to a myriad of concerns raised about the Secure Communities program, it appears that DHS is not operating in good faith. Rather than engage in an earnest effort to address legitimate concerns raised by governors, law enforcement professionals, and affected communities about a program plagued with problems, DHS leadership appears to be using the task force process as a nakedly political gesture to defend the status quo. From the onset, we expressed concerns about the task force s scope and function. Those concerns were outlined in a letter sent to ICE Director John Morton on July 20, 2011 and signed by over 200 local and national groups, including law enforcement professionals. A primary concern was and remains that the task force lacks transparency and accountability to the public. The community hearing process set forth recently has only magnified these concerns. To outside observers, the task force s process is much like the Secure Communities program itself: undemocratic, secretive, and haphazard. So far, the public lacks basic information about the hearing locations, details, and dates. Press has been discouraged from attending the hearing in Dallas (the only hearing formally scheduled to date) and hearings in other cities have been abruptly cancelled. DHS s Secure Communities announcement on August 5 confirmed that the agency has no regard for the nation s courts, local and state law-makers, law enforcement, and communities much less this task force and any recommendations it may propose. Yet, the task force continues to be held up by ICE as a key reform in the face of significant opposition to the program. The decision to unilaterally abrogate all Secure Communities contracts with states, and impose this mass deportation program regardless of local opposition, is an affront to our nation s democratic principles. No federal agency should be allowed to operate with this level of impunity. We respectfully request that you stand on the side of democracy and transparency and resign from your position as a task force member. The sad truth is that, as implemented, the task force serves more to suppress rather than address growing concerns about this failed program and its negative impact on public safety and civil rights. To work within the parameters set by the task force will, we fear, only helps legitimize a rogue agency in desperate need of accountability, investigation, and reform. Sincerely, The Undersigned, Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, Inc. Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice

2 Alliance for Immigrants Rights & Reform (Michigan) Alliance for Just Society (Washington) ALPHA Immigrant Center American Friends Service Committee American Friends Service Committee, Project Voice New England Amigos de Scalabrini Asian Law Alliance Asian Law Caucus Bay Area DREAM Act Coalition Black Alliance for Just Immigration Black Law Enforcement in America CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities California Dream Team Alliance (CADTA) California Immigrant Policy Center Cambridge United for Justice with Peace Campaign for Labor Rights Canal Alliance CASA de Maryland Casa Esperanza Casa Freehold (New Jersey) CAUSA (Oregon) Causa Justa::Just Cause Center for Constitutional Rights Central American Resource Center - Los Angeles Central American Resource Center (CRECEN) Central American Resource Center, Los Angeles Centro Civico Salvadoreño Centro Laboral de Graton

3 Centro Legal de la Raza Citizen Orange Coalicion de Derechos Humanos (Tucson) Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) Coalition of Latino Leaders-CLILA- Colectivo Flatlander (Houston) Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition Community United Against Violence (CUAV) Companeros:Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center CSO Community Service Organization DC Jobs with Justice Defending Dissent Foundation Direct Action for Rights and Equality Domestic Workers United (New York) DreamActivist Pennsylvania East Bay Sanctuary Covenant Ecunemical Peace Institute El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos (New Mexico) El Comite de Pro-Reforma Migratoria y Justicia Social (Seattle, WA) Families for Freedom (New York) Farmworker Legal Services of New York, Inc Federacion de Clubes Jaliscienses (Southern California) Filipino Advocates for Justice Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center Florida Immigrant Coalition Fr. Bill O'Donnell Social Justice Committee, St Joseph the Worker Center Fuerza Laboral (Rhode Island) Gainesville's Interfaith Alliance for Immigrant Justice

4 Georgia Detention Watch Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights Grassroots Collaborative Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (National) Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition Hayward Day Labor Center Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (Texas) Hispanic Community Dialogue of Virginia Hope Community Center Idaho Community Action Network (Idaho) Iglesia Católica Liberación Latina Illinois Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition Immigrant Defense Project Immigrant Legal Resource Center Immigrant Youth Justice League Interfaith Worker Justice IRATE & First Friends Jobs with Justice (National) JUNTOS Justice for Families Kansas/Missouri Dream Alliance Kentucky Jobs with Justice La Raza Centro Legal (San Francisco) Labor Community Strategy Center Latino Union of Chicago Latino and Latina Roundtable of the Pomona Valley and San Gabriel Valley League of United LatinAmerican Citizens Council 4609 Make the Road

5 Massachusetts Jobs with Justice MataHari: Eye of the Day Mexican American Coalition Mexican-American Coalition National MI Welfare Rights Org Migrant Support Services Migrant Support Services of Wayne Co. Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee MobilizeUs Muslim Legal Fund of America National Day Laborer Organizing Network National Domestic Workers Alliance National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest (Nebraska) Neighors United for a Better East Boston (NUBE) New Jersey Industrial Union Council New Jersey Labor Against War New Labor (New Jersey) New Sanctuary Coalition of New York City New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia New York Immigrant Coalition New York State Youth Leadership Council (NYSYLC) Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights Ohio Action Circle OLA of Eastern Long Island Olneyville Neighborhood Association (Providence, RI) OneAmerica (Washington) Padres/Jovenes Unidos

6 Pannun Firm, P.C. Paso del Norte Civil Rights Project Peekskill Area Pastors Association People United for Economic Justice Building Leadership through Organizing (PUEBLO) Pomona Economic Opportunity Center Presente.org Priority Africa Network Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada Pueblo Sin Fronteras - Human Rights (Dallas, TX) Rights for All People San Gabriel Valley Dream Team School of the Americas Watch, Los Angeles South Asian Network (SAN) Southwest Workers Union Street Level Health Project Sunflower Community Action (Kansas) Synagogue Hashem Tenants and Workers United (Virginia) Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition The National Immigrant Youth Alliance The Ruckus Society The Westchester Hispanic Coalition (New York) The Youth and Young Adult Network of the National Farm Worker Ministry Tierra y Libertad (Tucson) Ukrainian Autocephalos Orthodox Church Union de Vecinos Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Unitarian Universalist Refugee and Immigrant Services and Education, Inc.

7 United Electrical Workers Western Region United We Dream Network Vermont Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project Vermont Workers' Center Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations (VACOLAO) Voces de la Frontera (Wisconsin) Voces Unidas Por Los Inmigrantes Voices of Immigrant Children for Education and Equality Washington Community Action Network (Washington) Wayne Action for Racial Equality We Count! (Florida) Westchester Hispanic Coalition Workers Defense Project (Austin, Texas) Workers' Rights Law Center Workplace Project (Long Island, New York) Young Workers United YWCA Orange County