tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17373253706333600522012-02-15T22:20:48.618-08:00Law Offices of Rakesh Mehrotrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896360521512642017noreply@blogger.comBlogger11100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737325370633360052.post-42421404708867515952011-08-17T10:24:00.001-07:002011-08-17T10:24:31.578-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">The federal government’s Secure Communities program continues to be the cause of much controversy in the United States. A group in Chicago has now filed a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, in which they claim that the Secure Communities program is unconstitutional.<br /><br />According to the lawsuit, the practice of asking local police to detain immigrants in cases where there is no evidence that the immigrant has participated in an illegal activity is unconstitutional. Of specific concern is the part of Secure Communities that asks law enforcement agencies to hold people in custody so that Immigration and Customs Enforcement can check their immigration status and take over custody of the person, if needed.<br /><br />"What the lawsuit alleges is that in the vast majority of cases with individuals who have detainers lodged against them, basically ICE says to the locals, 'We are instructing you to detain [an individual] after [your] authority has expired because we have initiated an investigation,'" said Mark Fleming, a litigation coordinator with the National Immigrant Justice Center, the group that filed the class-action lawsuit.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1737325370633360052-4242140470886751595?l=usimmigrationonline.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Law Offices of Rakesh Mehrotrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896360521512642017noreply@blogger.com0