Sanctuaries Without Saints

México del Norte
Jorge Mújica Murias
mexicodelnorte@yahoo.com.mx

“Sanctuary” means, according to the dictionary, 1. Temple in which an image or remains of a saint are worshiped, as in the “the Sanctuary of Lourdes”; 2. Sacred or important valuable place, as in “the Pasteur Institute is a sanctuary of research; and 3. Place used as a refuge, to give protection or asylum, as in “terrorists were arrested at their sanctuary un South France”.

Just because it does not say it, the definition does not include something like “city or county in the United States were undocumented immigrants are free from La Migra”. I wish it said it…

But that’s the definition some people like to use, more inspired by good feelings than reality. And some others use it just to gain credibility among immigrants, promoting “sanctuary laws” without teeth. Some “sanctuary laws” I know of, particularly in Chicago, clearly say that “no authority shall collaborate with Immigration… unless Immigration specifically requests so…” and on and on.

And then it says, quite at the end, that no authority could be sanctioned because of not observing the law… and complaints regarding violations should be taken to … the authorities!

In a few words, the “sanctuary” where immigrants without papers are “safe” from La Migra just do not exist and do not protect, give asylum or refuge to no one.


Out Of But Really In


And the same is going on with the so called “opt out” of Secure Communities.

“With drums and orchestra it was announces last May that the state of Illinois was opting out of the Secure Communities program”, reports our colleague Fabiola Pomareda in La Raza newspaper. “Never the less, officers of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed they “keep working in Illinois and that the data base exchange continues, to identify undocumented immigrants”.

It could not be clearer. “Secure Communities is a federal program to share information, and the decisions on its operation are taken by the federal government only”, was told Fabiola by Nicole Navas, speaker for La Migra and person in charge of Secure Communities in Washington. “A state can not cancel its participation or ‘opt out’ after the government has already activated the program in the state”.

It is logical. Secure Communities is a data-share program between local police departments, Homeland Security (La Migra), and the FBI. When the local police officer arrests someone, fingerprints him or her and sends the info the FBI, La Migra gets a copy and boom! The arrestee is marked as a bad guy, drunk, or plain stupid because his biggest problem was not to stop at a stop light, but he’s also marked as undocumented, and avoiding deportation then is a big big problem.

Even worse, La Migra can check the data bases data of local and state police “from a desk at the Court building or using a laptop in a Starbucks”, Fabiola was told the spokesperson of the Cook County Sheriff, Steve Patterson.

Let’s be clear then. Secure Communities is not a voluntary program for cities and counties, even “sanctuary” cities and counties, and no one can “opt-out” of it.

The solution for La Migra to stop arresting immigrant bread winners who had a drink and then drove, or workers who did not stop at the stop sign to get on time to their jobs, is to eliminate Secure Communities, not to create “sanctuary” cities and counties or make them “immigrant friendly”.

But there’s guy who, all together by himself and him alone, could eliminate Secure Communities. His name is Barack Obama and, for the time being, he lives in Washington, D.C.

Other politicians who talk and talk about “opting-out” of Secure Communities are just lying thru their teeth…