Archive for the ‘dallascountysherifflupevaldez’ Category

​Tuesday night, the Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council's Task Force on Secure Communities (hold on, gotta catch my breath after that pithy title) held a pilot meeting at the Dallas County Community College's Bill J. Priest Campus to discuss ICE's controversial fingerprint screening program intended to snare dangerous undocumented immigrants. More than 150 were in attendance -- including some activists from Austin, but many locals too. And for two hours they aired their complaints about the program to the Task Force, which included Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez and Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia, among others. Vanna Slaughter, director of Catholic Charities in Dallas, told the Task Force she'd been the victim of a home invasion last October. An undocumented neighbor told her she didn't know about the attack, but added, "If I did, I'm not sure I would have called the police." It wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement of humanity, but it characterized the fear pervading the immigrant community. State Rep. Roberto Alonzo from Oak Cliff said ICE was after El Cucuy, a Mexican boogeyman that doesn't exist. A representative from the Greater Dallas Korean Chamber of Commerce said, "When I have 20 Korean businesses looted and robbed in Dallas, nobody spoke because if they spoke up, they could be fingerprinted and everything becomes known. "This program is a tool to keep us quiet."