Call Gov. Cuomo, tell him to withdraw NYS participation in "Secure Communities" (SComm) program

Call Governor Cuomo and tell him to withdraw New York State's participation in the so-called "Secure Communities" (SComm) program. SComm is a program that forces local law enforcement to send the fingerprints of those who are arrested to the Department of Homeland Security. The program cases a wide dragnet that tears apart families, creates a fear in immigrant communities that will leave countless crimes unreported, and violates civil rights and civil liberties. In New York, more than 20 counties have already activated Secure Communities without any public input.

Here's what you can do:

Call the Governor's office at (518) 474-8390 and tell him, "I'm calling to tell the Governor to end New York's participation in Secure Communities. This program is a devastating addition to a broken immigration system that makes our communities less safe and violates basic civil rights and liberties."

The only information you need to provide is your zip code.

Secure Communities will:

· Make New York less safe. Immigrant communities are afraid to report crime to local police for fear that any interaction with police will lead to deportation.

· Serve as a tool to re-victimize immigrant women who are domestic violence victims. Secure Communities not only deters immigrants from reporting domestic violence, it leaves them vulnerable to deportation when they do.
Victims of domestic violence are far too often arrested at the same time as their attackers. Under Secure Communities, domestic violence victims who are wrongly arrested will have their fingerprints automatically shared with the Department of Homeland Security.

· Destroy the fundamental principle of "innocent until proven guilty". While DHS claims that the program was designed to keep communities safe, individuals are tagged for deportation at the point of arrest - before they have been found guilty of any crime.

· Encourage racial profiling and pretextual arrests. Charges can be dropped or ruled unlawful, yet a person may still be deported under Secure Communities making the program ripe for abuse by police officers that are willing to arrest someone as a means of deporting them.

· Impose huge costs on New Yorkers by drastically increasing the number of people held in jail as well as requiring local law enforcement agencies to upgrade their technology systems.

Please help immigrants across the state by telling Governor Cuomo that the job of local police is to preserve public safety not to enforce federal immigration laws.

Thank you for your support!

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Migrants, Refugees, Slavery, Trafficking Humans

Call Gov. Cuomo, tell him to withdraw NYS participation in "Secure Communities" (SComm) program

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