Los Angeles Police Chief, Charlie Beck, hopes to rekindle trust in his department by proposing that immigrants arrested for low-level crimes be shielded from deportation.
"The federal program that issues these detainers has a very valid core premise, and that is that you should use the power of the government and the power of the enforcement of immigration to keep and increase public safety, and you should do that by targeting the most serious and violent criminals," expresses Beck.
According to Fox News Latino, the federal government's Secure Communities program requires that police officers check the immigration status of suspects arrested for minor offenses.
Beck asserts that the system doesn't always target the "most serious and violent criminals," and that it has "eroded this public trust that local police departments such as the Los Angeles police department so depend on."
Fox News reports that Los Angeles isn't the first city to resist the Secure Communities program. "Lawmakers in cities such as Chicago, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, San Diego, San Jose, Cambridge, Mass., El Paso, Houston, Seattle, and others have passed ordinances taking a stand against participating in the program."
Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network states, "What matters is the way in which police interact with immigrants who deserve the same protection of civil rights and safety as all other residents in Los Angeles."
Beck looks for the change to take effect by January 1st, 2013.
Stay tuned to Latinos Post for updates on Los Angeles and nationwide immigration matters.
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