New York Times Editorial - Immigrants, Criminalized - November 27, 2009 - Editorial emphasizes that it is "important for the [Obama] administration to avoid conflating illegal immigration and serious crime.

Guest Blogger: Sarahi Uribe from National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Re-posted from New American Media.

The News & Observer - 11/22/09 - The federal government said it was revamping its deportation agreements with local sheriffs to focus on ridding the country of dangerous felons. But some North Carolina sheriffs who signed the agreements have not been asked to change their practices.

On Nov. 2, Acting Executive Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Secure Communities Program, Marc Rapp, alleged in a letter to the New York Times that the program “doesn’t racially profile.” This conclusion misses the point. Rapp’s myopic assessment of the Secure Communities Program fails to account for racial profiling that occurs before individuals are booked and turns a blind eye to local law enforcement misbehavior.

According to a Human Rights First report released last week, since 2001, over 18,000 refugees and asylum seekers who pose no threat to U.S. security have not received protection from the U.S. government due to the overly broad provisions of Immigration law, and the expansive way that they have been interpreted by federal immigration agencies.