ICE collaboration with local police is causing strong distrust in the immigrant community, according to a study by the California Immigrant Policy Center called “We’re Not Feeling Any Safer.”

“The harmful impacts described in the survey raise serious concerns about the rapid expansion of ‘Secure Communities’ and other initiatives that push local police to enforce immigration law,” said Isaac Menashe, one of the study’s authors.

The CIPC study is based on a statewide survey (PDF) conducted in Fall 2009 with technical assistance from the Berkeley Law School’s Warren Institute. Participants included lawyers, faith leaders, and government employees in 23 counties – four have 287(g) agreements and sixteen participate in the Criminal Alien Program.

Among the survey’s findings:

• Respondents say collaboration with ICE extends beyond formal programs.
• Nearly all respondents (95 percent) reported a negative impact on their community such as deteriorating relationships between local police and the immigrant community and lost of trust.
• More than 75 percent of respondents said complaints about ethnic/racial profiling are on the rise.
• Local law enforcement efforts are not concentrating on serious criminal offenders when collaborating on immigration enforcement. Respondents in sixteen counties (73 percent) said people are being stopped or arrested by local police or county sheriffs on minor pretenses, such as a broken headlight, in order to investigate immigration status. Respondents in 12 counties (55 percent) said people  questioned, detained, or even arrested solely to investigate immigration status (either by sheriffs or local police).

A community service worker in El Dorado told researchers, “victims of crime have stopped making reports due to fear for their family.”

Deportation Nation reported in August that police chiefs in more than two dozen cities are questioning how and whether their departments should enforce federal immigration laws.