The federal government is going to force the state of Massachusetts to
participate in the Secure Communities program. The Secure Communities
program is a controversial program that tracks the names and
fingerprints of any arrested person through federal criminal and
immigration databases to check their citizenship status. Massachusetts
Governor Patrick Deval had sent a letter to USCIS on June 3 stating the
state would not participate in the program, because only one in four
people deported had been convicted of a serious crime.
Governor Deval’s rejection of Secure Communities follows in the
footsteps of New York and Illinois, who had also chosen not to
participate in the program. However, according to a USCIS
representative, Deval’s rejection of the program will do little to delay
the implementation of Secure Communities in Massachusetts.
