DHS Dismisses National Opposition to Dangerous Dragnet Program-“Secure Communites”
Informational Protest and Rally
Friday, August 12, 2011
4:00pm
Tucson Police Department
270 S. Stone Avenue
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson – After months of political and legal maneuvering to avoid questions of transparency, accountability, and fundamental due process, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Friday, August 5, 2011, announced its unilateral decision to rescind all Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and 40 states in its “Secure Communities” program, effective immediately. This unprecedented fingerprint-sharing process between ICE and local police has acted as a “dragnet” to identify and deport record numbers of undocumented migrants, resulting in the devastation of families and communities and spawning strong fight-backs across the country and decisions to “opt-out” by three states, Illinois, New York and Massachusetts.
These MOA provided the framework for their relationship, including an option for states to terminate their participation, which DHS simply wiped out with this move, clearing the road for their intended national implementation by the end of 2013.
The flagrant disregard of the serious grievances presented by communities across the country will only serve to continue to undermine any good will our communities have for this administration. DHS has run roughshod over our families and communities, and now that we have exposed this strategy to deport thousands, as well as its intentions to extend this data-gathering scheme to the rest of us through its connection with the FBI’s Next Generation Information System, this rogue agency suddenly states they can continue without the approval of the states.
The establishment of a new Advisory Taskforce to review the allegations of racial profiling, detentions and deportations, and other serious human rights violations, was done only to cover up and otherwise white-wash the real history of this program. We are asking that Tucson Police Chief, Roberto Villaseñor, who has been named as a member of this Taskforce, to resign and not legitimize a program that will result in the most massive deportation process we have ever seen.
Join Derechos Humanos, Southside Worker Center, Tierra y Libertad, and the members of the Border Solidarity Delegation at 4:00 PM, on Friday, August 12, 2011, at an informational protest and rally in front of the Tucson Police Department headquarters on Stone Avenue, and in our petition to Chief Villaseñor to resign from this Taskforce.