Immigration Authorities at Odds on Local Participation in Enforcement Program

Washington Post: Even as federal immigration officials were telling Arlington County, San Francisco and other jurisdictions that they could not opt out of a controversial immigration enforcement program, they were telling other municipalities that they could, according to internal Department of Homeland Security documents. The documents, released as a result of a lawsuit against DHS by opponents of the program, reveal an agency at odds over how to handle criticism of Secure Communities, the Obama administration's signature immigration enforcement program, without running afoul of constitutional limits on what the federal government can demand of local jurisdictions. The program sends fingerprints gathered by local law enforcement agencies to the FBI and then through a federal immigration database to identify undocumented immigrants. About 1,049 jurisdictions in 39 states participate, including many in Maryland and Virginia. In October, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano declared that Secure Communities was not "an opt-in, opt-out program." But even after her statement, ICE officials did not back away from earlier assurances to New York officials that local communities there would have the last word on whether to join the program. Internal documents show they also created an exception for Chicago. "No jurisdiction will be activated if they oppose it," read an e-mail to New York officials from Dan Cadman, a Secure Communities regional coordinator. "There is no ambiguity on that point. We get it."