Documents Reveal Pressure to Comply With Program to Deport Immigrants

New York Times: Federal immigration officials, frustrated by the refusal of Chicago and Cook County to join a controversial program aimed at deporting immigrants with criminal records, pressed Mayor Richard M. Daley and Sheriff Tom Dart in an aggressive campaign to obtain participation from reluctant police authorities, according to internal documents. Last spring, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials tried to put the program, Secure Communities, in effect in Cook County without clear consent from the sheriff’s office. Their advisers proposed asking Rahm Emanuel, then White House chief of staff, to use his Chicago connections to intervene with unresponsive local leaders. Chicago and Cook County were among several localities nationwide that refused to enroll in the program, which involves sharing fingerprints of anyone arrested with the Department of Homeland Security. Chicago and Cook County cited so-called sanctuary ordinances that prohibit local officials from involvement in immigration enforcement.