Congressman José E. Serrano

Representing the 15th District of New York

Serrano Applauds Governor Cuomo for Withdrawing from Secure Communities

Jun 3, 2011
Blog Post

On Wednesday, Congressman Serrano praised Governor  Cuomo’s decision to withdraw New York State from Secure Communities, a program in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) partners with state and local jails to deport immigrants they have in custody. Originally the program was designed to target violent criminals, however, in practice it has mostly deported immigrants who have not committed violent crimes and many that have not committed criminal violations at all. In addition, there is concern that the program makes immigrants less likely to cooperate with local law enforcement. In light of these problems, Serrano wrote a letter with Representative Nydia M.Velázquez last month asking Governor Cuomo to withdraw New York from the program. 

"Governor Cuomo has demonstrated tremendous leadership by taking the brave and necessary step of suspending New York State’s participation in the flawed Secure Communities program, and he deserves great praise," said Serrano. "He is firmly in line with our state’s pro-immigrant position and on behalf of the immigrants and their friends in the community, I would like to thank him.  Having New York State pull back from this aggressive program should be a wakeup call to the Department of Homeland Security.  It is time to end this program and I am glad my home state will no longer take part.”

Under the program, ICE identifies individuals for deportation before the underlying arrest has been reviewed by the criminal justice system and those arrested have little ability to challenge their detention or deportation.

"With this decision, New York State is upholding its commitment to protect the rights of all of its residents," Serrano added. "I hope that the Obama administration will realize that this program is an affront to our values, and begin to make swift changes.  In the meantime, I expect that other states and localities around the nation will follow New York’s lead and suspend their participation in this program."