SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – A bill that would pull back California’s participation in President Barack Obama’s immigration enforcement program is gaining momentum a week after Obama halted the deportation of young illegal immigrants. A key policy committee recently approved legislation that would limit the state’s participation in a federal fingerprinting program that calls for local jails to help immigration officials deport arrestees who are in the United States illegally. AB1081 by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano would prohibit law enforcement from keeping people who have not been convicted of a serious felony in jail only for immigration reasons. The San Francisco lawmaker said the program, known as Secure Communities, has overtones of racial profiling and erodes trust between police and immigrant communities. Immigration officials say the program is its most valuable tool in tackling criminal aliens.
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