NY pulls out of feds' immigration program

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo withdrew New York yesterday from an immigration enforcement program that aims to catch "criminal aliens" but has sparked protests for sweeping up undocumented immigrants with no prior record.

Nassau and Suffolk counties had joined U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Secure Communities program months ago, sending fingerprints of all people arrested to the feds to flag immigrants in the country illegally for deportation.

At least 11 immigrants had been expelled from New York, seven of them from Long Island, before the governor suspended the agreement.

Cuomo's office cited "mounting evidence" that the national program isn't meeting its stated goal and has had "serious consequences" on the willingness of immigrants to report crimes and assist local police.

"There are concerns about the implementation of the program as well as its impact on families, immigrant communities and law enforcement in New York," Cuomo said in a statement.

New York becomes the second state to withdraw from the deal -- handing immigration rights advocates a victory. Illinois withdrew on May 4, citing similar concerns.

"New York joins a growing chorus of state opposition to an ill-conceived, dangerous and dishonestly executed program," said Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, an advocacy group with a New York chapter.

ICE spokeswoman Nicole Navas said the agency would seek to continue working with New York to remove "those who are illegally in this country and have also committed a crime under state law."

The agency is assessing Secure Communities' effectiveness and "looks forward to sharing the results of its analysis" with the state, she said.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, who had been enthusiastic about the program, blasted the governor's decision.

"This is a horrendous setback for anyone interested in enforcing our immigration laws," Levy said. "It is special-interest politics taking precedence over our homeland's security."

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano did not comment.

The program's suspension, though, was welcome news among immigrant advocates on Long Island, who had complained that deportations would create mistrust and deter immigrants from stepping forward as witnesses or victims of crimes.

"Rather than taking serious criminals off the streets, local enforcement was terrorizing families by tearing them apart, further pushing that community deeper into the shadows," said Luis Valenzuela, director of the Long Island Immigrant Alliance, an advocacy group in Amityville. "This is a step in the right direction."

Secure Communities has resulted in more than 100,000 deportations nationally since its 2008 launch.

The idea behind the program, which remains active in 41 states, is to streamline and automate what has been a scattershot process of local authorities passing along information on suspected undocumented immigrants one case at a time, requiring time-consuming manual searches of records.

Under the program, local and state agencies pass on fingerprints and biographical data to be checked against federal data on immigration-law violators. When there's a match, the feds can deport, hold inmates or send them to an immigration judge.

ICE's data showed, however, that many of those booked into federal custody and deported were classified as "noncriminal," meaning they had been arrested but had not been found guilty of any charge. More than 29,000 were expelled from the country before they were convicted.

Secure Communities was adopted in New York in May 2010 by then-Gov. David A. Paterson and launched in January. Nassau and Suffolk joined Feb. 8 and 23, respectively, while New York City had not yet joined. As of last week, 27 of New York's 62 counties were participating.

Responding to concerns, the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said recently it will review the program, including how ICE is using the data and whether the program is applied fairly in all communities.