Immigrant group targets police program

SOMERVILLE
Associated Press / October 5, 2010

An immigrant advocacy group announced yesterday that they are starting a campaign against the Boston Police Department’s participation in a federal program that automatically checks the immigration status of people who are arrested. Somerville-based Centro Presente, a group critical of the federal program knows as Secure Communities, said its campaign is designed to educate immigrants and other Massachusetts police departments about a program they say discourages all immigrants, regardless of their status, from cooperating with police. Patricia Montes, the group’s executive director, said the campaign will involve Spanish radio shows, community forums, and testimonies from immigrants who she said have been wrongfully detained by police. Montes is organizing a forum on the issue at Centro Presente’s Somerville offices today with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts and the American Friends Service Committee Project Voice.