VIDEO: Critics Change Course on 'Secure Communities' Program

Immigrant advocates have dropped their campaign to keep Montgomery County out of the Secure Communities deportation program but are not relenting in their demands that federal leaders reform or revoke the program ahead of its September launch date.

Last week, Councilwoman Nancy Navarro asked the County Council to resist Secure Communities. That day, the Department of Homeland Security ended nearly two years of uncertainty in a letter notifying county officials that the program will launch in Montgomery County on Sept. 27.

With the council set to vote today on Navarro’s resolution, she called instead for federal and county officials to "ensure" Secure Community’s "consistent" application once it comes to Montgomery County.

"We are not able to stop this program," Navarro said.

Navarro’s original resolution had support from Council President Valerie Ervin and Councilmen George Leventhal and Hans Riemer. This morning’s resolution passed unanimously.

Created in 2008, Secure Communities gives U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement better access to the fingerprints of anyone processed at state and local jails. In the summer of 2009, ICE had slated Montgomery County to be one of five  Maryland jurisdictions where Secure Communities would launch in 2010. It has since taken effect in every Maryland jurisdiction except for Montgomery County and Baltimore City. Federal officials say the program will go nationwide in 2013.

Secure Community’s supporters say that local jurisdictions aren’t—and shouldn’t be—in a position to refuse.

"We are going to insist that Secure Communities be fully implemented statewide. Montgomery County does not get to decide it’s not going to obey the law," said Sue Payne, spokeswoman for Rally for America, a network of more than 30,000 residents concerned with fiscal responsibility and illegal immigration. "Nancy Navarro’s opposition to Secure Communities illustrates her political grandstanding and inability to be in touch with the average citizen of Montgomery County."

Immigrant advocates have shifted their efforts to a national push to put Secure Communities under greater scrutiny. They point to federal data showing that more than one quarter of people deported via Secure Communities did not commit a criminal offense. In Prince George’s County, the ratio is nearly two-thirds.

At a rally this afternoon outside the County Council building in Rockville, they hailed today’s resolution as a crucial step in correcting Secure Community’s deviation from its goal of helping federal agents deport only the most dangerous criminals.

"It is a message," Navarro said. "This is a way of us officially expressing our deep concern with the uneven implementation of the Secure Communities program … and [to] hopefully amend this program so that it can actually do what it says that it’s supposed to do."

Navarro’s April 26 resolution:

While we recognize that the detention and removal of dangerous and violent criminals must be a law enforcement priority, the Council does not support the deportation of individuals who have not engaged in any criminal activity through the Secure Communities program, because it undermines community trust in police.

The May 3 resolution:

The Montgomery County Council values the trust and confidence of all its residents and encourages our public safety officials to work closely with ICE to ensure that the Secure Communities program is implemented consistent with its stated purpose and goals.