California Attorney General Jerry Brown denied the San Francisco sheriff's petition to opt out of a new federal program under which the fingerprints of all those arrested for any crime would be shared with federal immigration authorities

It's amazing what happens to a person when they are running for office!

The San Francisco Bay Guardian explains:

The Board of Supervisors is urging San Francisco officials not to participate in Secure Communities, a controversial federal-local fingerprinting collaboration set to be activated June 1. But opting out of a program that threatens to make debates over "sanctuary city" protections of immigrants irrelevant may not be easy.

Insecure Sanctuary

According to a Heritage Foundation Memo on Homeland Security on 1/6/10:

Prior to the Secure Communities program, criminal aliens were all too often returned to the streets in a practice of “catch and release” because local law enforcement did not have the resources to detain or investigate them. Now, ICE is able to commit to a response time of less than four hours to retrieve criminal aliens from state and local jails.

While the Secure Communities program is a great example of how immigration enforcement can be used effectively to help state and local law enforcement decrease illegal immigration and maintain public safety, the Obama Administration has rolled back or attempted to roll back several key immigration enforcement efforts, including the following...287(g)...Social Security No-Match...Real ID...

Secure Communities: A Model for Obama’s 2010 Immigration Enforcement Strategy

But, according to the Bay City News on 5/25/10, gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown has destroyed San Francisco's chances to opt-out: Jerry Brown Turns Down SF's Attempt To Duck Automatic Sharing Of Arrestee Fingerprints

"Because I think this program serves both public safety and the interest of justice, I am declining your request," Brown wrote in his letter today to Hennessey.

"Using fingerprints is faster, race neutral and results in accurate information and identification," Brown said.

"In these matters, statewide uniformity makes sense," Brown wrote. "This is not simply a local issue. Many of the people booked in local jails end up in state prison or go on to commit crimes in other counties or states."

Oh well.

Gosh, wonder what Obama thinks!

Jerry should watch out or Obama might not invite him to any of his big parties at the White House...