The State of Massachusetts is set to pass a state law that will end all cooperation between it and the federal government in the U.S. government’s Secure Communities program. The Secure Communities program is where U.S. immigration trains state and local police forces in how to look for the undocumented and also in reporting those undocumented who are arrested for crimes to immigration. The problem is that what exactly constitutes “crimes” is subject to interpretation. The federal government says that it is for serious crimes such as rape, homicide, murder, arson and violence. However, a record number of undocumented have been deported for little more than being stopped for traffic tickets or being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Worse, in Massachusetts as well as other states, the distrust between state and local police on the one hand, and the growth of crime and gang-bangers in many immigrant communities is costing more money and time than the Secure Communities is worth. If immigrants distrust the police, and this allows crime and gangs to flourish, then the whole purpose of Secure Communities has failed. So the Massachusetts State Assembly has chosen to change this and end cooperation with the federal government in regards to Secure Communities. A number of other states are now doing the same. The Secure Communities program has not only cost the state millions of dollars, but has left it with a higher crime rate and greater distrust among its immigrant communities.

This cannot continue, and this is why state legislators want to restore trust between their state and local police forces and the immigrant communities. There are of course those proponents who still believe that the Secure Communities program should be enforced, and that all undocumented in this country should be “deported.” As I believe the last presidential election showed, this has become ever more unrealistic and is leading the country into a legal and ethical abyss that will do nothing to deal with the problem of all those undocumented who have been in this country for many years, have homes and families and have put down roots. So far U.S. President Barack Obama’s approach remains contradictory—calling for immigration reform while at the same time still deporting a record number of undocumented even though most have never committed a serious crime. Until this two-faced policy is changed, it may be the growing number of states that will opt out of the Secure Communities program that will have an impact on how we as a nation deal with immigration reform.