Campaign against "Secure Communities"

A coalition of Portland groups have organized a campaign against the so-called ‘Secure Communities’ program.  They’ve called for a week of action to oppose the partnership between local law enforcement and immigration authorities created by the program.  Recently, the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, ruled that states could no longer choose to ‘opt out’ of the program.

ICE officials say that it is now mandatory for local police departments to hand over the names of everyone they detain, so the names can be checked by immigration authorities. 

KBOO’s Jenka Soderberg spoke with Portland lawyer Ashlee Albies, with the National Lawyers Guild, about what this means for Oregon’s immigrant communities: