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NEW YORK: A new legislative programme ‘Secure Communities’ was taken into effect in New York City which will lead many illegal and undocumented immigrants to be deported.
Despite protest by legislators and immigration advocates the ‘Secure Communities’ programme went into effect New York citywide Tuesday.
Legislators and immigration advocates protested against the law in Downtown Manhattan Monday demanding that officials halt the law enforcement programme until significant reforms are made.
This new ‘Secure Communities’ Legislations requires all fingerprints taken by local police be shared with Homeland Security to determine if the person arrested is an illegal immigrant and could be deported.
However, the programme has already led to 475 deportations in other parts of the state in the meanwhile before it took in effect through process according to a local media.
The federal government defended the law and says the programme helps identify immigrants who could pose a threat, but opponents say it creates fear in immigrant communities.
The news about this programme by the city had a very frightening impact in the diversified New York Community including The Bangladeshi community here in New York City.
In general, the immigrant community not only their privacy but their civil rights will be violated as they are concern about. If and once the person is identified as an undocumented or as an illegal alien, he or she will be deported.
Besides, many, like an alien in legality process may or will loose their right to get the health care opportunity according to the concern community activist.
New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn told the media “Its implementation leads to the deportation of too many immigrants who pose no public safety threat to the city,"
Secure Communities is a simple and common sense way to carry out ICE`s priorities.
It uses an already-existing federal information-sharing partnership between ICE and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that helps to identify criminal aliens without imposing new or additional requirements on state and local law enforcement.
For decades, local jurisdictions have shared the fingerprints of individuals who are arrested or booked into custody with the FBI to see if they have a criminal record.
Under Secure Communities, the FBI automatically sends the fingerprints to ICE to check against its immigration databases.
If these checks reveal that an individual is unlawfully present in the United States or otherwise removable due to a criminal conviction, ICE takes enforcement action--prioritizing the removal of individuals who present the most significant threats to public safety as determined by the severity of their crime, their criminal history, and other factors--as well as those who have repeatedly violated immigration laws.
Secure Communities imposes no new or additional requirements on state and local law enforcement.
The federal government, not the state or local law enforcement agency, determines what immigration enforcement action, if any, is appropriate.
BDST: 1907 HRS, MAY 15, 2012
Edited by: Abul Kalam Azad, Newsroom Editor, Mohammed Humayun Kabir, Sr Newsroom Editor