Sen. Brown calls on feds to force gov to get tough on illegals
 

Sen. Brown calls on feds to force gov to get tough on illegals
U.S. Sen. Scott Brown today joined a growing chorus of lawmen openly defying Gov. Deval Patrick, calling on federal Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano to allow Massachusetts to join the Secure Communities program without the governor’s approval.
“My constituents have made it abundantly clear to me that they view Secure Communities as an important public safety tool that could have prevented deadly incidents that have rocked their communities,” Brown wrote in a letter to Napolitano today. “I strongly encourage (the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency) to swiftly and expeditiously activate the remaining jurisdictions in Massachusetts.”
Three sheriffs have made an end-run around Patrick in recent weeks, meeting with federal officials in Washington, D.C. to join the program against the governor’s wishes. The program, run by ICE, allows local law enforcement agencies to share the fingerprints of all arrested people with the feds with the goal being to snare illegal aliens.
Patrick has refused to back the program, arguing that Massachusetts already sends fingerprints to the FBI. He has called the sheriffs’ actions a “publicity stunt.” Boston was one of the first cities in the country to implement the program but Mayor Thomas M. Menino withdrew amid reports that people were being deported for minor crimes and misdemeanors. The program is currently being reviewed with federal officials, a Menino spokeswoman said.
The issue has hit a fever pitch after an illegal from Ecuador with an arrest record was charged with drunken driving and vehicular homicide in the dragging death of a 20-year-old man in Milford. This week, a Brazilian illegal was charged with butchering his 24-year-old estranged girlfriend in Marshfield.
“Over the past months, several high profile incidents have clearly shown that Secure Communities is needed in Massachusetts now more than ever,” Brown wrote in his letter. “In these cases, illegal immigrants had been detained by local authorities for criminal violations and were later shown to have extensive criminal histories. If these individuals had been deported following their prior arrests, the lives of at least three people in Massachusetts might have been saved.”A Patrick spokesman had no immediate comment on Brown’s letter.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/pol...h_on_illegals/

I was skeptical about Brown. Now he comes out against illegal aliens? He must be really feeling the heat from the Mass. voters.

I hope this is true, but find it hard to believe anything anymore.