The City of Portland’s Human Rights Commission has requested the Multnomah Sheriff’s office limit its participation in Secure Communities, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program that searches for undocumented workers in the nation’s jails.

The program, which purports to target “criminal aliens,” in fact casts a much wider net, threatening to tear apart immigrant and American families as the result of potentially minor infractions such as driving without a license. The program also is a threat to community policing, stoking fears in immigrant communities that contact with police could lead to deportation.

The Portland Human Rights Commission (HRC) heard, and then endorsed, findings by an ad hoc subcommittee that looked into the relationship between the sheriff’s office, ICE and Secure Communities. Immigrant Law Group attorney Stephen Manning, who is a member of the commission’s Community and Police Relations Committee, sat on the ad hoc subcommittee.

The report acknowledged Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Staton’s efforts to involve the HRC and his “commitment to protect the dignity, civil and human rights” of those held in the county’s jails. It also recommended several changes to the sheriff’s policies and practices.

The report recommended the sheriff’s office officially request the Oregon State Police opt out of Secure Communities, scale back its information sharing with ICE officials, require ICE officials to identify their work station in the jail and inform people booked that they are not required to speak with ICE officials.

“The so-called Secure Communities program is anything but,” Manning said. “Multnomah County must disentangle itself from this destructive and counterproductive program and join the rising tide of communities across the country that are opting out of Secure Communities.”