Local Legislators Can Protect Immigrants by Supporting the Trust Act

One year ago, Arizona passed its harsh, anti-immigrant law (SB 1070), and told Arizona police officers they could act like federal immigration agents. California can learn from Arizona’s mistakes: Entangling local police in federal immigration issues costs our counties precious dollars and precious community trust. Many immigrants are afraid to contact our local police for help, even the victims or witnesses to crime, making it harder for police departments to do their jobs and protect all county residents.

What makes our Bay Area friends and neighbors so afraid?

The Secure Communities program imposed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Secure Communities, or S-Comm, is expensive for our counties and jeopardizes our safety by destroying relationships between law enforcement and our communities. S-Comm is a federal program (not a law) that automatically shares with ICE all fingerprints taken by local law enforcement right after individuals are arrested. The fingerprints are sent to ICE, even if charges are never filed. If an individuals fingerprints are matched in the S-Comm database, ICE starts the deportation process. ICE pressures our local jails to hold individuals until ICE picks them up and tears them from their families and our community.

Secure Communities makes our communities less secure. Painful stories have emerged across the country about domestic violence victims like Maria Bolanos of Maryland. Her desperate call for help resulted in her being reported for deportation under S-Comm.

Furthermore, detaining and deporting immigrants is expensive for local governments and economies. In most cases, ICE won’t reimburse the county for keeping immigrants netted by S-Comm in our jails. Immigration-based detention triggered by driving infractions alone cost Sacramento County more than $10,000 last year, according to an ACLU of Northern California report. A Drum Major Institute for Public Policy report this month noted, “When immigration enforcement programs succeed in pushing local immigrant populations underground, local economies suffer: businesses close, jobs and tax revenue are lost.”

Why did our counties sign up for such a flawed, costly program?

They didn’t.

ICE rolled this program out with hardly any accountability to local governments. Documents uncovered through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit show that when local and state officials raised concerns, ICE intentionally misled them about whether local governments could opt out of the program. A year ago, San Mateo County Board of Supervisors wrote to ICE and the Attorney General, expressing serious concerns about S-Comm and asking how counties could opt out. The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors went a step further and voted to opt out and followed ICE’s process for doing so – only to then be told by ICE that they couldn’t.

Fortunately, California can take action to let local governments determine their own public safety priorities. The California legislature can pass the TRUST Act, introduced by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-SF).

The Transparency and Responsibility Using State Tools Act (AB 1081) changes the agreement between California and ICE that allowed S-Comm into our communities. The TRUST Act honors the right of local governments to opt out of S-Comm. It also sets up safeguards for jurisdictions that do choose to participate, requiring a plan that prevents racial profiling and keeps children and crime victims from being erroneously targeted.

These measures would help restore trust between immigrant communities and police, and strengthen public safety for all of us. The bill has garnered support from a coalition of more than 70 organizations, including domestic violence survivor advocates, unions, and religious congregations.

These diverse groups have united because we recognize it’s the federal government’s job to find real solutions to our immigration challenges, not force our police to act like immigration agents at local taxpayers’ expense. The TRUST Act allows California communities to set their own public safety priorities. It is the right decision for California.