Immigration advocates and civil liberties groups are gearing up for a new battle after the feds said cops across America must send fingerprints of everyone they book.
Washington‘s decree last week squashed Gov. Cuomo‘s decision to back out of the Secure Communities program, which seeks to check the immigration status of everyone taken into custody.
“Everyone is still in shock that the federal government is ignoring the wishes of New York,” said Udi Ofer of the New York Civil Liberties Union, who said his group is in “constant contact” with the governor’s office on the issue.
His group and others have been discussing filing suit against the feds.
“Even a child knows that if you keep changing the rules of the game, you can’t expect others to feel that you’ve played fairly,” said Melissa Keaney, an attorney with the National Immigration Law Center. “At this point, we feel there’s absolutely no way forward except to terminate the program.”
ICE director John Morton sent a letter Friday to Gov. Cuomo and 40 other governors, notifying them that past signed agreements to participate in the program were meaningless.
The FBI will be sharing with ICE all fingerprints that local police send to them for a background check. The move made official what the feds have been hinting at all summer – the program is mandatory even though Immigration and Customs Enforcement initially sought permission and cooperation from local officials.
An ICE spokesperson said Monday the letters had been sent out “to avoid further confusion.”
Gov. Cuomo tried to suspend the state’s participation in Secure Communities in June over concerns it would make immigrants afraid of local law enforcement and was rounding up people arrested for low-level offenses without prior convictions. Cuomo’s office had no comment Monday.
