Unfortunately, Governor Patrick has refused to adopt Secure Communities citing a “lack of clarity.” Yet, the only concrete reason he has given for rejecting Secure Communities is that he believes it promotes racial profiling. It seems our governor is suggesting Massachusetts police exploit their authority to rid the state of minorities they suspect are here illegally. This assertion couldn’t be further from the truth. Law enforcement agents would only be able to address a criminal defendant’s immigration status after first concluding probable cause existed to arrest an individual for an alleged violation of the law. Once an arrest is made, fingerprints are routinely taken during the booking process. It is at this point the prints are shared with ICE and the deportation process would begin if it was concluded the criminal defendant had an illegal immigration status. In short, probable cause to arrest for commission of an alleged crime would have to exist before prints would be shared with ICE and immigration status would become an issue. This is clearly not a process driven by racial profiling.

If Massachusetts were to adopt this program it would not only help take hardened criminals off our streets, but would also save the taxpayers of the Commonwealth a significant amount of money. In 2008, there were 806 illegal aliens in Massachusetts correctional facilities. These inmates were incarcerated for an average of 241 days at a cost of $30 million to the taxpayers of the Commonwealth.

In my view, Governor Patrick is clearly attempting to muddy the waters surrounding a straight forward issue. The fact is we are spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on illegal immigrants. This reality becomes even more burdensome during unprecedented economic times. The Governor must realize it is “illegal to be illegal.” It is his responsibility to equip police officers with the tools necessary to keep our streets safe, identify illegal aliens and send them home. By refusing to adopt this initiative, the message he is sending the citizens of Massachusetts is he is more interested in the well being of criminal aliens than of law abiding Massachusetts residents.

State Rep. Daniel Webster
Pembroke