February 23, 2012

Board of County Commissioners, Multnomah County

501 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Suite 600

Portland, OR 97214‐3587

Dear Chair Cogan, Commissioner Kafoury, Commissioner Smith, Commissioner Shiprack

and Commissioner McKeel:

We are faith leaders supporting the adoption of the resolution promoting public safety and

against the mandatory implementation of Secure Communities before you today. As faith

leaders, we are very concerned about the impact the Federal “Secure” Communities

program has on our community. Central to all faith traditions are the principles of the

common good, human dignity and love for one’s neighbor. In many of our sacred texts the

value of welcoming the stranger is an explicit mandate and primary tenet of our faith.

The joining of forces of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local law

enforcement does the opposite of securing our community. As a result of this program, the

trust between local law enforcement and immigrants is grossly eroded. Secure

Communities allows ICE to identify, process, and remove immigrants incarcerated in our

local jails. This leads to further criminalization of migrants where minor violations, often

traffic stops, turn into an investigation of citizenship status. Furthermore, low‐priority nonviolent

offenders or even citizens are being funneled into this program and face

deportation, needlessly separating thousands of families. The implementation of Secure

Communities wastes our scarce public resources that could be used to make our

communities safer.

Our faith now calls us to be part of changing this unjust policy. The resolution before you

today is an important first step in making our community welcoming to all people and a

supporting community that values family unity and fairness. We hope you will support

other measures that will ensure that all people are treated fairly and with dignity. We

believe that you should consider adopting actions that have been taken by other

communities, including Santa Clara County and Cook County, to ensure that our jails do not

honor the optional detainer requests made by ICE based on nationality. We cannot build a

strong community if our community continues to be unnecessarily torn apart.

Sincerely,