Earlier this month, Secretary Napolitano, who heads up the presidents immigration reform effort, announced the expansion of a program known as 287(g), which enlists and trains local police to act as immigration agents. Many police chiefs say the program is counterproductive and impedes their ability to fight crime, however, because it undermines local community-policing efforts and sets the stage for rampant racial profiling.

We are getting to the tipping point. Immigrant communities that helped to elect President Obama strongly believed that there would be reforms. Now, there is a creeping sense of betrayal and questioning about why the administration would wholeheartedly embrace and expand some of the most counterproductive and ineffectual immigration enforcement policies of the Bush era, said Ms. Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, which organized this mornings protest.

The folks who are hurt most by these enforcement policies are the very people who President Obama said should be legalized under comprehensive immigration reform, added Hong. There is a huge disconnect and contradiction between what the president is saying and what Secretary Napolitano is doing. You cant have it both ways. Instead of expanding the dragnet, Secretary Napolitano should move us forward on immigration reform so we finally can have a system that works and treats people fairly.

Other participants echoed those sentiments. Last November, we voted for real change, but all we are seeing is more of the same when it comes to immigration enforcement policies. Our communities are suffering tremendously, said Sandy Placido, a community organizer with the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrants Rights.

Police chiefs across the country agree that local enforcement of federal immigration law is counterproductive, and the record shows that it’s a recipe for racial profiling, said Udi Ofer, advocacy director with the New York Civil Liberties Union. President Obama must reject programs that undermine American values and instead focus on providing millions of immigrants with a path to legalization while at the same time protecting Americans constitutional rights.

Here in New Jersey, faith and advocacy groups are working closely with immigrant communities to push back against efforts to deputize local law enforcement as immigration agents, said Chia-Chia Wang, civic participation coordinator with the American Friends Services Committee of New Jersey. We know that 287(g) will only perpetuate racial and ethnic profiling—anyone who looks or sounds foreign will be the first to be stopped and questioned about their immigration status.

Participants also urged Secretary Napolitano to stop expanding the use of the deeply flawed e-Verify database, which employers would be required to use to check peoples eligibility to work. Government studies have shown that the database is full of errors that could cause millions of workers, including citizens and legal residents, to lose their jobs.

The New York event was part of a national day of action to send a message of reform to Secretary Napolitano and President Obama. Groups participating in the event plan to closely monitor the Department of Homeland Securitys actions and advocate with the administration and Congress to craft comprehensive immigration reform legislation in the coming months.

The New York Immigration Coalition is an umbrella policy advocacy organization with 200 member groups in New York State that works for justice and opportunity for immigrants. For more information, visit www.thenyic.org.

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As an organization, SMEAC dissolved in the winter of 2008 after 7 years of making their voices heard. However, we continue to bear witness to their righteous struggle and example.

“..We will remember those individuals who stood in their own power as they were met with adversity in 2001. It was these voices that echoed the challenges and the struggles of our african american communities–and they were heard. And it’s because of these voices, that later formed SMEAC, that progress will be seen and felt forever.”
-Chabria Thomas, Baltimore City Organizer and Activist

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