Paying Attention In Massachusetts

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The source of this article is a story on a website called Fleming and Hayes posted on April 3rd.  The Secure Communities Program is a federal programs which requires anyone arrested for a crime to have their fingerprints sent to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).  Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts has been holding hearings around the state that are supposed to be forums for discussing the implementation of the program. 

Generally speaking, the forums have not been well publicized and special interest groups that oppose the measure have been the ones showing up.  Some members of the Massachusetts Tea Party attended today's meeting in Lawrence.

The article reports some of what went on in today's meeting in Lawrence:

"Commissioner Curtis Wood of the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS) opened the meeting with an overview of what the Secure Communities program means, and then made an outrageous claim that misrepresented the Arizona illegal immigration law. He was summarily called on that during the commentary part of the meeting. Secretary Mary Heffernan of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) took most of the questions from the audience and could hardly answer anything. All she said was "I can't answer that", or "I don't know, what a good question", or "that's why we are having these meetings, ie, to get this input from you". It's all an effort to stall. All this is for them is media attention to convey the desired image that Secure Communities is flawed and should not be implemented. Their goal was a discussion of why this should not be done. Her excuse was the state really doesn't understand this program and needs more time to get input from people in communities. They just want to drag this out. She said they want to be very careful and not rush into anything. She was just unbelievable. Secretary Heffernan was asked again as she was asked in the last meeting in Framingham if she invited anyone from ICE, and she said No, but that she will. She said that last time. ICE will not come unless invited. Heffernan and others were maligning ICE in commentary, and ICE should be there to set the record straight. I talked to tea party leaders, and steps will be taken to ensure this invitation is extended to ICE by Heffernan's office."

I have no idea why these people do not want criminals fingerprinted to check to see if they are here legally.  It seems as if common sense would dictate protecting our borders during a time of international terrorism.  Please follow the above link to the article to read about the further problems with the forum. 

The next meeting of the Secure Communities forum is in Waltham on April 16th.

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This page contains a single entry by Granny G published on April 3, 2011 7:12 PM.

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