October, 28 2010, 03:34pm EDT
Rights Groups File Emergency Injunction to Obtain Documents on "Dangerous" ICE Program
Attorneys, Advocates Call “Secure Communities” Dangerous, Demand Information to End Opt-Out Confusion
NEW YORK
Today, the National Day Laborer Organization Network (NDLON), the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic of Cardozo Law filed an injunction in federal court to require the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to turn over critical documents on the ability for communities to opt-out of the "Secure Communities" (S-Comm) program that enlists local police to become what ICE describes as a "force multiplier" for immigration enforcement.
"Communities across the country are unanimously deciding that keeping residents safe means refusing to participate in the ICE dragnet 'Secure Communities'," said NDLON Executive Director Pablo Alvarado. "Since the inception of the program, it has been marked by outright dishonesty from ICE. Now is the time for transparency. We are asking the courts to take action to prevent the agency's misinformation from continuing to trample the democratic process."
So far, at least, San Francisco and Santa Clara, California, and Arlington, Virginia, have formally requested to opt-out of S-Comm. The emergency injunction is being filed before those municipalities who have voted to opt-out are scheduled to meet with ICE in early November. The lack of information and mixed messages from the agency, however, is causing confusion, leaving local law enforcement frustrated about an issue that groups say is undermining community safety. The injunction specifically seeks to prevent ICE from withholding documents on the "opt-out" policy to allow local communities to have the information necessary to make determination regarding the S-Comm program. The documents requested should have already been turned over Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) law suit filed last April, which ICE has only partially complied with.
"In spite of the widespread confusion about the opt-out process, ICE is moving full speed ahead, deploying S-Comm in cities and counties across the nation, said Bridget Kessler, Clinical Teaching Fellow at the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic of Cardozo Law. "If information about opt-out is released years down the road, it will not do any good for local communities who need to understand the program and make decisions about it now."
"The government is signing agreements with States without local jurisdictions' permission. Obtaining records related to the opting out process is essential to maintain an open government process and safeguard local governments' ability to make decisions that impact their constituents. Especially for places like San Francisco, Santa Clara and Arlington, the public can no longer wait for the records," said CCR staff attorney Sunita Patel.
Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Janet Napolitano has backed off of earlier claims that local communities are able to opt out of the program. Following the FOIA law suit, ICE issued a seven-page document defending the highly criticized program but describing for the first time an opt-out process for local jurisdictions to be removed from the S-Comm deployment plan. Shortly thereafter, Napolitano confirmed the opt-out option. After the Washington Post broke a story in which a high-level ICE source claimed no such option existed, however, Napolitano said her department "doesn't consider Secure Communities an opt in/opt out program."
According to advocates who have reviewed the initial S-Comm documents from the FOIA case, they reveal a pattern of dishonesty. Information about the nascent program has been scarce, and the development of operational details has been shrouded in secrecy. S-Comm, which currently operates in approximately 600 jurisdictions across the country, functions like the controversial 287(g) program and Arizona's SB1070, making state and local police central to the enforcement of federal immigration law. The program automatically runs fingerprints through immigration databases for all people arrested and targets them for detention and deportation even if their criminal charges are minor, eventually dismissed, or the result of an unlawful arrest.
Visit www.CCRjustice.org/secure-communities for the filing and www.UncoverTheTruth.org for more information on Secure Communities.
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. CCR is committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.
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Sanders Says 'Political Movement,' Not Murder, Is the Path to Medicare for All
"Killing people is not the way we're going to reform our healthcare system," he said. "The way we're going to reform our healthcare system is having people come together."
Dec 12, 2024
Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
"Look, when we talk about the healthcare crisis, in my view, and I think the view of a majority of Americans, the current system is broken, it is dysfunctional, it is cruel, and it is wildly inefficient—far too expensive," said Sanders (I-Vt.), whose position is backed up by various polls.
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"What you're seeing, the outpouring of anger at the insurance companies, is a reflection of how people feel about the current healthcare system."
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"Killing people is not the way we're going to reform our healthcare system," Sanders added. "The way we're going to reform our healthcare system is having people come together and understanding that it is the right of every American to be able to walk into a doctor's office when they need to and not have to take out their wallet."
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The 83-year-old Vermonter, who was just reelected to what he says is likely his last six-year term, is an Independent but caucuses with Democrats and sought their presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. He has urged the Democratic Party to recognize why some working-class voters have abandoned it since Republicans won the White House and both chambers of Congress last month. A refusal to take on insurance and drug companies and overhaul the healthcare system, he argues, is one reason.
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In addition to highlighting Sanders' interview on social media, Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) pointed out to Business Insider on Wednesday that "you've got thousands of people that are sharing their stories of frustration" in the wake of Thompson's death.
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Two other Medicare for All advocates, Reps. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), also made clear to Business Insider that they oppose Thompson's murder but understand some of the responses to it.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All Act—similarly toldHuffPost in a Tuesday interview, "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system."
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Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2024 roundup, which was published Thursday, found that at least 54 journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work this year, and 18 of them were killed by Israeli armed forces (16 in Palestine, and two in Lebanon).
The organization has also filed four complaints with the International Criminal Court "for war crimes committed by the Israeli army against journalists," according to the roundup, which includes stats from January 1 through December 1.
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Under the Robinson-Patman Act, it is generally illegal for sellers to engage in price discrimination that harms competition by charging higher prices to disfavored retailers that purchase similar goods. The FTC's case filed today seeks to ensure that businesses of all sizes compete on a level playing field with equivalent access to discounts and rebates, which means increased consumer choice and the ability to pass on lower prices to consumers shopping across independent retailers.
"When local businesses get squeezed because of unfair pricing practices that favor large chains, Americans see fewer choices and pay higher prices—and communities suffer," Khan said in a statement. "The law says that businesses of all sizes should be able to compete on a level playing field. Enforcers have ignored this mandate from Congress for decades, but the FTC's action today will help protect fair competition, lower prices, and restore the rule of law."
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