ICE Enforces "Secure Communities"

Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") has stated that it will carry out the "Secure Communities" initiative despite opposition from Governor Deval Patrick and Mayor Thomas Menino.  Under Secure Communities, all persons who are arrested, even for traffic related violations, have their fingerprints checked with the FBI database.  If there is a match for an immigration violation,  ICE may place the person in deportation and immigration detention.   Despite representations that Secure Communities is meant to target gang members and serious criminal convictions, Boston's police commissioner stated that immigrants with trafffic violations are also being deported from the United States.  According to a recent New York Times article,  about 200,000 immigrants live in Boston and are about 1/4 of the population of the city.