On December 30, 2010 New York Governor David Patterson announced that he had made negotiations with federal officials to protect illegal aliens in New York who don’t have criminal records. However, his efforts to appeal to his opponents and convince them of his newly adopted program were unsuccessful.
The Secure Communities program allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to use fingerprints collected by the police to “detain and deport immigrants who are considered a threat to public safety and national security.” Patterson signed onto the program with DHS back in May of 2010 and the program is scheduled to go into effect by 2013. Though Patterson added new language to the agreement, which stated DHS would only focus on immigrants who pose a threat or have criminal records; Immigration Officials can still deport immigrants without a criminal background.