August 17, 2011 | 3:03 PM | By

Does Secure Communities undermine L.A.’s Special Order 40?

FILED UNDER: Politics/Justice, 287(g), Secure Communities

Photo courtesy of Will Coley

A camera operator rests on the mock coffin as Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, addresses a Homeland Security panel Monday, August 15, 2011

On Monday night, as protestors and speakers sounded off on the federal government’s Secure Communities immigration enforcement program during a town hall meeting in Los Angeles, one recurring theme involved a local police policy enacted more than three decades ago.

“The trust factor is undermining Special Order 40,” said Marielena Hincapié of the National Immigration Law Center, a legal advocacy organization, to a panel assembled by the Department of Homeland Security to gather input on the controversial fingerprint-sharing program. In the crowd, protesters held a large black mock coffin reading “RIP Special Order 40.”

What is Special Order 40, and how does Secure Communities conflict with it, if it does? And how does Secure Communities compare with 287(g), an older federal-local law enforcement partnership used in jails to identify deportable immigrants? It’s complicated, but the workings of all three are worth a look.

Special Order 40 is a policy enacted by former LAPD Chief Daryl Gates in late 1979 that essentially bars local law officers from enforcing federal immigration laws. Secure Communities, which began rolling out in 2008, allows the fingerprints of people booked into local police jails to be shared with immigration agents. The federal program’s critics have long held that the mandatory partnership undermines trust between immigrant communities and local authorities, potentially impeding police work.

At Special Order 40′s core was an acknowledgement that the cooperation of undocumented immigrants was critical to the department’s “ability to protect and serve the entire community.” From a department memo dated November 27, 1979:

The Department is sensitive to the principle that effective law enforcement depends on a high degree of cooperation between the Department and the public it serves. The Department also recognizes that the Constitution of the United States guarantees equal protection to all persons within its jurisdiction.

In view of those principles, it is the policy of the Los Angeles Police Department that undocumented alien status in itself is not a matter for police action. It is, therefore, incumbent on all employees of this Department to make a personal commitment to equal enforcement of the law and service to the public, regardless of alien status.

Officers were directed that they “shall not initiate police action with the objective of discovering the alien status of a person.” The order further directed that officers “shall not arrest nor book persons for violation of Title 8, Section 1325 of the United States Immigration Code (Illegal Entry).”

While idea of the order was to foster police cooperation from a fearful and vulnerable population, it has had its vocal critics. Special Order 40 came under fire especially after the 2008 murder of Jamiel Shaw, a black high school football player shot by a Latino gang member who was undocumented.

Enter Secure Communities, which ICE has stated is intended to ferret out deportable criminals. But the program has landed many others in deportation proceedings, among them minor traffic violators and people without a criminal record.

Here is how Secure Communities works in a nutshell, from ICE:

When state and local law enforcement arrest and book someone into a jail for a violation of a state criminal offense, they generally fingerprint the person. After fingerprints are taken at the jail, the state and local authorities electronically submit the fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). This data is then stored in the FBI’s criminal databases. After running the fingerprints against those databases, the FBI sends the state and local authorities a record of the person’s criminal history.

With the Secure Communities program, once the FBI checks the fingerprints, the FBI automatically sends them to DHS, so that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can determine if that person is also subject to removal (deportation). This change, whereby the fingerprints are sent to DHS in addition to the FBI, fulfills a 2002 Congressional mandate for the FBI to share information with ICE, and is consistent with a 2008 federal law that instructs ICE to identify criminal aliens for removal. Secure Communities does not require any changes in the procedures of local law enforcement agencies or jails.

If the person has been previously encountered and fingerprinted by an immigration official and there is a digitized record, then the immigration database will register a “match.” ICE then reviews other databases to determine whether the person is here illegally or is otherwise removable.

On Monday night, I spoke briefly with LAPD deputy chief Jose Perez, Jr., who was at the meeting. He explained that one reason some non-criminals wind up at local booking facilities getting fingerprinted is because they must be brought in when they can’t produce identification for police, say during a traffic stop. Some people are also being fingerprinted in the field as mobile biometric technology rolls out, though the LAPD has yet to implement this department-wide.

Does Secure Communities cast any wider of a net than other federal-local immigration enforcement programs, like the 287(g) program that Los Angeles County jails participate in? That program, which provides local authorities with ICE training, is used by the county to identify deportable jail inmates.

There are key differences between the two. One is that under 287(g) in Los Angeles, the interviews with inmates take place post-conviction, as opposed to at the booking stage under Secure Communities. Also, nationwide, the scope of the voluntary 287(g) is relatively minimal. As of late last year, there were only 69 law enforcement agencies participating in 24 states.

Secure Communities, on the other hand, is by now operating in more than 1,500 jurisdictions. ICE, which recently rescinded the state contracts agreeing to the program, has emphasized that Secure Communities is mandatory and intends to continue rolling it out nationwide.

  • http://twitter.com/saveourepublic Jim Bills

    Did you mean to say “Does special order 40 undermine secure communities” ?  Cultural fusion ? Thats a new one for sure LOL !!!!

  • Deport

    What a load
    Deport all illegals NOW

  • Anonymous

    Secure Communities is working better then Americans thought it would, and I repeat there are no “non-criminal” deportations! The US spends $136 billion a year on illegal unknowns and the unemployment rate in Mexico is 4.3% it’s not fair to taxpaying for every damn thing Americans

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dave-Francis/100002158029860 Dave Francis

     

    What are the two most critical
    issues in the oncoming presidential elections? Down to the wire it is the
    economy and jobs. Therefore, we must find jobs, lots of jobs and illegal
    immigrants in the lower incomes who have acquired jobs must be removed and
    returned to less fortunate legal workers in our country. Are you aware that
    illegal immigration has been encouraged very successfully by the unconscionable
    business organizations such as the US Chamber of Commerce; backed up
    by certain unconcerned Republicans and the disingenuous Democrats,
    propelled by the left-wing influence? Records on immigration numbers have been
    systematically sanitized and kept out of the main spotlight. Liberal leaning
    news media have massaged numbers, statistics for years, including previous
    administrations. Any blogger or outside comment author is quickly banned from
    passing on sources or statistics.

    Currently the main headline has been quickly flows through the national press,
    which illegal aliens are leaving and returning to their own country? What they
    are not selling you, is that over 20 million illegal aliens have settled here;
    and this may be uncounted. Millions live in houses of legal immigrants, hidden
    away from authorities, spending taxpayer’s money; Using friends ID or stolen
    documents to take American jobs. Millions could be shielded by unions, working
    in construction, hotels and motels or on a grand scale in Sen. Harry Reid’s
    entertainment Mecca of Nevada.  The Pew Research Center says there are 8
    million illegal immigrants are working and who have stolen jobs from American
    workers, through the collusion of business owners and many radical open border
    groups.

    These groups are under the unfounded supposition that we need more and more
    workers, legal or illegal? This is not saying we shouldn’t give expeditious
    visas to engineers and scientists and those who have high professional
    achievement. Highly skilled individuals, who have shown their skilled
    abilities, will never drop to the poverty line as they will always have high
    paying jobs.  On the negative side, people who are sliding past the border
    line, or the other 40 percent who lie at entry ports at airlines and shipping
    terminals are committed to staying until caught. The majority of economic
    illegal aliens are well versed in welfare laws and the use of false ID. These
    economic nationals have a better idea of each States entitlement system, to be
    able to play to their advantage then law-abiding Americans.

    California is a very Liberal state
    that is under the impression that American taxpayers should support the illegal
    immigration occupation of that State. All Border States are under a giant
    pressure from especially illegal pregnant mothers, who are determined to bring
    their unborn child here so they can get free hospitalization; then after
    conceiving the 300.000 children annually born to illegal aliens, in receipt of
    instant citizenship can collect cash payments and a whole bunch of handouts,
    that US citizens and residents never see?

    Figures from the Los Angeles County
    Department of Public Social Services

    Immigration is having a bigger
    impact than ever on the American economy, but the current presidential
    candidates seem reluctant to speak up. June figures from the Department of
    Public Social Services in California report $54 million in welfare benefits
    were issued to illegal alien parents of their native-born children in Los
    Angeles County alone. This was announced by County Supervisor Michael D.
    Antonovich. The $54 million consists of $22 million in CalWORKs (welfare) and
    $32 million in Food Stamps — an increase of $3 million from June 2010. 
    This represents 22% of all CalWORKs and Food Stamp issuances in the
    County.  The projected annual cost has jumped to $625 million.

    “With the $550 million for public
    safety and nearly $500 million for health care, the total cost for illegal immigrants
    to County taxpayers exceeds $1.6 billion dollars a year,” said
    Antonovich.  “These costs do not include the hundreds of millions of
    dollars for education.”

    WHAT MONSTEROUS FINANCIAL HOLE IS YOUR STATE DIGGING FOR
    ITSELF? LAWS FORCED ON TAXPAYERS TO SUPPORT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT INVADERS?
     ARIZONA WAS HIT HARD BY DEFICITS CAUSED BY ECONOMIC ILLEGAL ALIENS.  THOUSANDS HAVE MOVED OUT AS POLICING LAWS WERE
    ENFORCED, AND MOVING IN YOUR DIRECTION. THESE FOREIGNERS ARE GIVING ALABAMA,
    GEORGIA, UTAH AND OTHER LOCATIONS A WIDE BERTH.

    Should
    we expect Perry, a Republican who once served in the Texas legislature, to make
    the same admission about his pro illegal immigration stance? After all, he gave
    illegal aliens discounted in-state tuition at public colleges and universities
    in Texas then traveled to Mexico to brag about it. He also slammed Arizona for
    passing a tough immigration control law, believes the southern border fence is
    unnecessary and opposes the E-Verify federal verification program that prevents
    illegal immigrants from landing state jobs. E-Verify the job eliminator for
    illegal aliens and the new deterrent is equally needed to start clipping the
    wings of the open border zealots, the religious entities, unions  and the unhappy business leaders who
    determined to keep cheap labor pouring into the U.S.

    Perhaps
    Americans shouldn’t hold their breath for an apology on the open borders issue
    since it’s likely that Rick Perry is betting it will earn Latino votes.

    The threat of a Congressional
    amnesty may be off the table for now, but millions of illegal immigrants
    are still taking American jobs.Congress continues to import an
    additional 75,000 foreign workers every month at a time when American
    workers are facing massive unemployment and collapsing wages. The immigration crisis is as
    severe as ever, and elected officials from both parties have refused to do
    anything to address the role mass immigration plays in our national jobs
    crisis.Americans need a president who
    will take our immigration crisis seriously.

    Right now, the political parties and
    presidential candidates are staking out their positions on immigration. Together,
    we can influence the candidates to improve their immigration positions and
    publicly commit to defending the American worker. See the immigration grade
    scores of contenders in the Presidential race at NumbersUSA. Learn who is
    involved in corruption and collusion of all lawmakers at Judicial Watch.

    Will the Republicans reject
    another open-borders candidate?Will President Obama move to a
    more reasonable position as he strives for re-election?Can candidates and prospective
    candidates like Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney and
    Herman Cain recognize the urgency voters have about this issue? Michele
    Bachmann has openly discussed this ominous issue that is erupting
    from every newspaper and media every day. Only—and only the TEA PARTY are
    willing to talk about Illegal Immigration. So this is the time to separate
    the wheat from the chaff, so to speak and learn who is ready to fight for
    every American and not try to pacify illegal aliens, with the possibility
    of Immigration Reform- we all know as mass amnesty. No TEA PARTY leader
    will enact any law that rescinds the Reagan 1986 Immigration Control and
    reform Act. All cities branded as a Sanctuary for Illegal aliens, will
    either conform to the law, or lose federal funding.

    Politicians, who won’t recognize the
    urgency of the immigration issue, will be removed.

  • Dah Duh Ran Run!!!

    Amen Brother.  Illegal is Illegal.  What part of Illegal do these people NOT Understand?  

  • Dah Duh Ran Run!

    Go Ron Paul.  This is why the Media is so scared of him,

  • Anonymous

    Federal law is superior to state and local law, and HUGELY superior to some policy established by a has-been local police chief.  A policy is not even an ordinance.  Apparently illegal aliens and those who support illegality are scraping the bottom of the barrel for an issue – a red herring, actually – that would put the skids on the most successful enforcement program we have for our current and still in effect federal immigration laws. These folks simply do not want our immigration laws enforced, as the first step to open borders.  Boo-hoo.

    Well, the American people will not stand for the nullification of our laws, and especially not for the benefit and at the behest of lawless foreign nationals who have no right to be in this country.  We Americans want the Secure Communities program expanded, strengthened and enhanced, along with other measures that will result in securing our borders and eliminating illegal aliens from this nation.

    Special Order 40 is a non-issue, lacking any legal authority and totally impotent in its conflict with federal law and federal programs implementing those laws. Special Order 40 isn’t worth a bucket of warm spit, and genuinely doesn’t even merit one paragraph buried at the back of a podunk newspaper. 

  • Anonymous

    I note “the key difference” is that the consequence for being caught being in the USA illegally is deportation. PERIOD.

    It does not matter if it is 287(g), or Secure Communities, or ICE, or CBP, or anything else. The consequence for being caught in the USA illegally is… DEPORTATION.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4K26FXA55OEQ7PBDJ56Y2RAESQ Jack

    What does illegal mean?  So, let’s just say that LA is a sanctuary city and they made all of these promises to illegals…  Just sayin…  Newsflash!  The state and local laws do not supercede federal law.  Not sure if that will sink into liberal brains or not but that is a fact.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4K26FXA55OEQ7PBDJ56Y2RAESQ Jack

    Also, you also believe that when someone gets booked for a crime that they should be PROTECTED from the feds????  ROTFLMAO  YEAH!!!!!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4K26FXA55OEQ7PBDJ56Y2RAESQ Jack

    Uh Ron Paul????  That same Ron Paul that wouldn’t mind Iran having nukes????  YEAH!!!!  He would place flowers on the border and say, ‘Please don’t cross?’  I don’t trust his liberal tail for a second!

  • impoundguy

    You certainly wouldn’t want to infringe upon the rights of some who is here ILLEGALLY and has now committed a crime….better then the finger prints how about also a DNA swab and a 1 way bus ticket back to to the furthest point south of the border…. 

  • RMHolb

    Special Order 40 was mandated to Chief Gates by political authority. It was and still is just a “politically correct” way of ignoring law breaking illegal immigrants. The premise that not having officers inquire into either an arrestee’s legal immigration status or one who is obviously illegal because doing so would tend to prevent others from reporting crimes against them is boggus. If all such illegal immigrants were identified and deported, they couldn’t be victims in the first place. Simple cause and effect.

  • RMHolb

    AZXyb, Chief Gates was forced by a liberal Police Commission and the then L.A. mayor to sign Special Order 40. Before that, it was my experience that no matter how an officer came in contact with an illegal immigrant, one way or another he/she was turned over to the Feds for deportation. It was then axiomatic that illegals so deported lowered the illegal population as well as the number illegal victims of crime. No illegals, no illegal victims. The results just don’t fit the liberals’ premise that a sanctuary city was best because it allowed illegals to report crime without fear of deportation. Plainly silly. Anyone who buys that is either biased or inexperienced in the salient issues.

  • Barron4citycouncil

    Special Order 40 continues to be debated because we have the wrong ‘mayor’ in office.  He is selective in his enforcement of our LA Municipal Codes.  I was present at former Police Chief Gates public comments at city council.  He did say Special Order 40 was being mis-used and it should be done away with. 

  • http://profiles.google.com/wet501 chris wet

    Si se puede deportivo ahora!

    Yes we can deport you all now!

  • Anonymous

    Yeah let’s continue the endless war cycle till the US completely implodes.  Neocon policies are destroying the US.

    As a country we have faced down far more danger from the former Soviet Union and China, then Iran will ever present. The propaganda about Iran is much like the propaganda about WMDs in Iraq. We the American public are being fed disinformation to promote agendas that work against our best national interest.
     Fear is being used to sway the public to support a policy of continual war. That keeps the military industrial complex green and their political puppets in office.

    RP understands that war is bankrupting the country. Peace and the prosperity that comes from it is the only way to reverse the damage from past policies. A Teddy Roosevelt approach of talking softly and carrying a big stick is much more preferred then interfering in other countries internal affairs, nation building and being an international policeman.

    One really needs to ask the question. Why does Iran want a nuke? Could it be that they have been paying attention. Perhaps they have noticed US involvement and war with their neighbors. Maybe they don’t want to be next.

    I suspect if the US was in a similar situation to that of Iran, we would be looking to build a nuke too.

  • Anonymous

    The open border/amnesty ethnic hustlers would like to have it both ways. On the one hand they argue that Federal law supersedes state and local laws as in their attempts to quash Arizona/ Alabama legislation. Then when the Feds actually start enforcing federal law, they argue that states and local communities have the right to opt out.
    This flip flopping around is further evidence that what they actually want is zero enforcement of immigration laws. Anarchy is really what they are seeking.

  • Anonymous

    Dave
    I would like to add that it is not just illegal immigration that is the problem. It is also legal immigration. Each and every month the US allows a minimum of 125,000 legal workers. Last period government reporting showed job creation at 117,000. Anyone else see a problem?

     California currently has 39 million people and is expected to add another 21 million in the next 35 years. California adds 1700 people everyday. US population is expected to increase to over 400 million in the next 50 years. We add approx 30 million every 10 years. Some 87% of all population growth in this country is attributed to immigrants and their children. While illegal immigration is a serious and continual problem, it doesn’t match legal immigration in the long run.

    Over population is the biggest problem we face as a nation. Excessive population growth affects every facet of our society, culture and life. More demand of scarce resources leads to price increases, unavailability and eventually shortages. Pollution elimination and energy self sufficiency will never be accomplished as long as we continue uncontrolled population growth.

    All immigration should be stopped for a period of at least 10 years. Then legal immigration could resume based on national need up to perhaps 300,000 a year.
    No more is the US a frontier country with vast resources at it’s disposal. We as a country need to take steps now to insure that our children and grandchildren are not burdened with over population and it’s resulting problems.

  • Hrobster

    Special Order 40 was created by the elite that wanted millions of Mexicans in Los Angeles who would ruin the unions, and wages of American citzens.

    Hows’ that for the real definition of what special order 40 was and is?

  • Hrobster

    sorry, I meant millions of Mexican illegal aliens. Legal Mexicans it would be harder for th elite to exploit.

  • Hrobster

    Thank you, the truth finally.

  • Bobby

    Comrade Rojas, immigration policy in the United States cannot be based on the “trust” police have in illegal aliens. Special order 40, is nothing more than the poltics of open borders. Might it not be somewhat naive for Americans to trust your reporting on this, Mrs. “Rojas”.

  • Melissa_yaklyvich

    Special Order 40 is a slap in the face to every law enforcement agency, and its officer who swore to uphold the laws in this great country of mine.  Yes I said mine!  The Los Angeles City Council members believe in trading our laws away to Immigrants that dont even belong here in the United States.  This is being done, so that the immigrants who dont belong here will feel comfortable, that way the illegal immigrants who dont belong in the U.S. will help law enforcement with information on someone else. I say someone elses because everyone knows that Illegal Immigrants protect themselves and thier relative. Furthermore, The Los Angeles City Council’s Special Order 40 tells the Illegal Immigrants it’s okay to break the law, as long as you talk to us.  When they should be saying, “you may talk to us, while we start the DEPORTATION PROCESS! ” Which brings me to my final comment.  The most depressing issue is that the process for deportation is broken….These people are law breakers who happen to be a flight risk, and yet our federal courts deem it an appropriate process, after apprehending the illegals who are flight risks to begin with, the courts let them go back into our society, on a promise that they will appear in court for possable deportation. Is this a FRIGGING JOKE !!!!  What has happened to The Country I Love?

                                                                                The Embarrassed American