Immigrants plead for end to fingerprint sharing

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -- Immigrants who say they were hauled into jail for selling ice cream without a permit and for reporting being the victim of domestic violence had one message for a federal government task force assigned to review an information-sharing effort that gives immigration authorities access to the fingerprints of arrestees.

End the program.

More than 200 people, many wearing signs reading "Terminate Secure Communities" and carrying flags from countries including Mexico and Brazil, packed a conference room in Los Angeles Monday night to recount their experiences with a program they say is making immigrants reluctant to report crime to police out of fear of getting deported.

"Every day I live the nightmare of this program," said Blanca Perez, 38, who said she was arrested in February for street vending without a permit. "Now I am facing deportation for the simple act of selling ice cream in the street."

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/15/2360736/task-force-eyes-fingerprint-sharing.html

[pennylane100]

1. Is the ice cream vendor a legal immigrant.

She definitely should not be deported for that. However if she is here illegally, than, that is probably the reason she is probably being deported.

[Lance_Boyle]

2. Criminals seek lenience in order to report other criminals.

Why should an illegal alien be treated any differently than the weed dealer who gets robbed? You don't automatically get your own transgression forgiven just for ratting out someone else's.

[pinboy3niner]

3. I think the idea is not to have people so fearful of the police...

...that they avoid all contact with authorities, even when they are a victim of, or witness to, a crime.

The polce certainly have an interest in obtaining as much information as possible from witnesses, especially in the case of serious crimes.

And for women, in particular, there is a long history of cases of abuse and violence that go unreported because of fear of the police.

There is a societal interest in gathering witness testimony and in protecting victims of crime--regardless of immigration status.

"Secure Communities" has worked, ironicaly, to make communities less secure.

[joeglow3]

4. I love the police calls when complain of a drug deal gone bad

We had one here recently where someone called police because the weed the bought was not really weed. I can see both sides of the argument. On the one hand, illegal immigrants can't be declared open season. On the other hand, if you choose to break the law (no matter how altruistic your reasons), this is a risk you assume.

[EFerrari]

5. What you don't seem to be understanding is that the fingerprint sharing

is not limited to those people you slam all the time. Are you going to stand over the Feds and make sure no US citizen's fingerprints get into their files? Yours, your familie's, your best friend's?

Secure Communities is plainly unconstitutional. Plus, earlier this month, the Feds decided it wasn't optional and that communities cannot opt out.

So let's see. All over the country, LEOs are being laid off and departments are no longer responding to a host of calls. To that, now they are being forced to cooperate with the Feds which erodes what little goodwill they have in their own community, not to mention their diminished resources which includes data management. This is a recipe for abuse.

[saras]

6. "illegals" is namecalling, and results in an ignore, at the very least