Since the major components of Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration law was blocked while hearing proceed Arizona is still left with how to deal with the issue of illegal immigration. Many states, including Virginia and our Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli filed an amicus brief in support of Arizona’s efforts to combat illegal immigration. Since amicus is a legal definition for “friend” I decided to go into how Virginia can be a real friend to Arizona and show them how a state can successfully work in conjunction with ICE in combating illegal immigration. Again, I’m going to preface this with saying that I am not going to talk to the extreme elements on both sides of this debate (The “deport them all” crowd and those demanding there should be “no deportations” at all even for criminals crowd) but rather the majority of Americans who believe that immigration reform requires there to be a balance between enforcement of current laws and reform a system that encourages illegal immigrants to follow our laws already in place.
Currently in Virginia every single jurisdiction is linked to the ICE’s Secure Communities Program and this is something that should be considered a blue print for other state currently debating how to deal with illegal immigration. Basically, this program runs anyone who is arrested through an immigration database based on fingerprint information. The old saying “fingerprints don’t lie” is exactly why this program is successful in many jurisdictions through the United States and Virginia. Arizona currently has 53% participating in the program which is very admirable but until they have 100% participation I argue it is hard for the state to say they have done everything possible to work in conjunction with ICE in combating illegal immigration. Why hasn’t Governor Brewer or even the author of this law written a bill requiring all jurisdictions to participate in this program? Virginia’s leaders could have gone to Arizona and shown how successful Virginia has been since implementing the Secure Communities Program in identifying and placing illegal aliens into deportation proceedings.
Criminal aliens have been successfully deported from this country after their criminal proceedings are completed. When ICE authorities determine the status of an illegal alien and the crime they’ll notify the jurisdiction that is holding the illegal that they wish to place a detainer on them which is the beginning of the removal process. In addition to going after criminal aliens ICE is able to use this program to identify previously deported aliens and those who have overstayed their visas. Many of the immigration advocates who oppose this program really fail in their efforts because as I before this is based on finger print identification as well as interviews with the alien. The fact that this program works with finger print identification the anti-enforcement advocate really lose credibility when they claim that people can be “mixed up” and having a legal immigrant deported. That’s not the case and it’s a shame they make that argument. This program goes after immigrants who have committed crimes and who otherwise would not be in contact with ICE authorities had it not been for their committing crimes in the jurisdiction that arrests them.
In addition to the criticism that advocate throw at these joint efforts between ICE and localities, Secure Communities prevents much of that because it is the local detention centers and jails which do this and in many jurisdictions in Virginia they are separate entities. For example, in Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax their police departments are responsible for the main “policing” duties on the street while the Sheriff’s Offices run and maintain the jails. The “community relations” between immigrants, both legal and illegal will still be intact and maintained while those who commit crimes like gang members, and other violent criminals who are illegally in the country will be targeted when they break the law. Again, I think that those who oppose Arizona’s law will agree that illegal aliens who commit violent crimes should be deported and should not be allowed to stay in the country.
In the end, I argue that states and localities that want to combat illegal immigration should look to all possible avenues to work in conjunction with ICE through a strong partnership like Virginia does with the Secure Communities Program. This can really be asked of jurisdictions who attempt to write their own immigration laws but haven’t joined Secure Communities or even 287 g. The federal government and ICE has been dealing with immigration for years and local law enforcement are the boots on the ground in protecting their communities. With this in mind, the two can work in conjunction with one another in keeping their communities safe from criminal illegal aliens.
