Secure Communities (H 5873, S 632)

The Affiliate also testified in opposition to legislation to require all communities to participate in the federal Secure Communities program, which requires an automatic check of the fingerprints of any arrested individual against immigration databases. The Affiliate testified that Secure Communities has a devastating impact in immigrant neighborhoods, damaging community relations with police officers and deterring individuals from coming forward with information about crimes, for fear that they or family members could be deported. The legislation failed to move out of committee.