DC Councilmembers Phil Mendelson and Jim Graham sign a proposal to ban Secure Communities in the nation's capital. Photo: Stokely Baksh

In May we reported for The American Prospect that the deployment of Secure Communities hit a roadblock in the nation’s capital when D.C. council members introduced a bill to ban the program.

“This is like something out of George Orwell. This is really ‘insecure communities,’” argues District Council member Jim Graham, who represents an area that is home to many of the District’s immigrants. Several Council members said the program could lead to more laws like the one passed in Arizona, which they described as “horrific.”

Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier signed an agreement to share arrest data with ICE, despite the district’s longstanding ban on city employees inquiring about immigration status.

She delayed the program’s start after immigrant advocates raised their concerns, and issued a statement that department policy has not changed.

Lanier recently defended the program on WTOP-FM’s “Ask the Chief,” saying “this is not civil immigration enforcement” (listen here). She wants to implement after developing a system for filtering out arrest data for low level offenses so that it is not sent to ICE.

Later in the show council member Phil Mendelson argued Secure Communities would damage community policing efforts because “police cannot do a good job if witnesses do not come forth. The police cannot do a good job if victims are afraid to report crimes.” Mendelson chairs the committee now considering the ban on sharing arrest data with ICE.

Read the full story in The American Prospect here.