Secure Communities Director, David Venturella, spoke at the Wilson Center last Friday. PHOTO: Stokely Baksh Last week the director of Secure Communities tried to put an end to the debate over whether or not the controversial program is mandatory. “At this point the position of the administration is that local communities will not be able to opt-out of Secure Communities,” said David Venturella, while speaking to a room packed with immigrant advocates at the Wilson... Read More

There were several tense moments today when David Venturella, the assistant director of Secure Communities, addressed a room full of immigration advocates at the Woodrow Wilson Center. “This is a tough topic,” Venturella said during his opening remarks. “I understand it elicits a lot of emotion.” At one point, Maria Bolanos, a domestic violence victim who’s call for help led to deportation proceedings, confronted David Venturella. “I called... Read More

New York City Council members have introduced a resolution calling on Governor David Paterson to rescind the state’s Secure Communities agreement with ICE before he leaves office at the end of the year. There is an urgency to the council’s request. Putnam County plans to activate Secure Communities “by the beginning of 2011,” and other counties could soon make similar plans. ICE has briefed law enforcement officials in at least a dozen other counties... Read More

Our cover story in the current issue of The Indypendent explores how Maricopa County isn’t the only area where the Sheriff Dept. is accused of racial profiling and ICE has gone ahead with plans to activate Secure Communities – using those same officers as its “force multipliers.” We report that the New York Police Department  has a “Stop, Question and Frisk” program that has been show to disproportionately target Black and Latino residents. Now... Read More

Can counties opt-out of a controversial immigration enforcement partnership after a state agrees to participate? In three recent meetings, ICE had the same message. “They said no,” said Eileen Hirst, Chief of Staff for the San Francisco Sheriff Department. David Venturella, assistant director for the Secure Communities program Secure Communities Director David Venturella flew to California on Tuesday to drive the point home in person during meetings with San Francisco... Read More

Last week, Deportation Nation reported that Arlington County and ICE officials met Friday morning to discuss whether the county could withdraw from the Secure Communities program. The result from that meeting was that it could not. “ICE stated clearly – and with finality – that local activated communities do not have the option of withholding information from the program, although communities can opt not to learn the results of immigration queries,” said County Manager... Read More

Arlington County met with ICE officials today to discuss whether the county can withdraw from the Secure Communities, and a statement just released from County Manager Barbara M. Donnellan says the answer is no: “ICE stated clearly – and with finality – that local activated communities do not have the option of withholding information from the program, although communities can opt not to learn the results of immigration queries.” Arlington County opposed... Read More