Arlington Joins DC In Rejecting "Secure Communities"

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Arlington joined DC yesterday in rejecting the controversial "Secure Communities" program. With passage of a similar measure in Santa Clara, CA on the same day, national momentum looks to be building against the program. Calling Secure Communities "a pattern of measures that seek to score cheap political points on the backs of working immigrants," Arlington County Board Member J. Walter Tejada introduced the unanimously-approved resolution asking to be removed from the program. Earlier this summer, DC became the first place in the country to opt-out of the Department of Homeland Security initiative, which automatically sends fingerprints of locally arrested persons to immigration officials. Tejada pointed out that the program had been imposed on local jurisdictions when the state of Virginia signed on to Secure Communities, depriving them of the opportunity “to say yes or no." Arlington’s resolution “sets the precedent in Virginia for counties that wish to remove themselves from the program," noted Esteban Garces, organizer with Tenants and Workers United, a member of the coalition that came together to defeat Secure Communities in Northern Virginia. Click here for more coverage. - photo: Arlington County Board member Walter Tejada celebrates with activists and community members after the county voted to reject the Secure Communities immigration enforcement program; photo courtesy TBD