On Saturday, Archbishop George Niederauer and a gaggle of open-borders enthusiasts (including gay Assemblyman Tom Ammiano) held a big confab at a San Francisco cathedral to complain about government deportation of criminal aliens. (Watch a local television news story here.)

Several reports of the event use the word “dragnet” which implies mass round-ups, e.g. California’s Catholic hierarchy takes stand against illegal-immigration dragnet in the Contra Costa Times.

On the contrary, the persons affected are already jailbirds. The policy being condemned is Secure Communities, a common-sense program where the immigration status of arrested persons is checked along with their previous criminal history using a federal database. Deporting them removes dangerous persons from the country.

The friends of crime diversity despise Secure Communities because it is a powerful tool in identifying and deporting invasive foreigners. The squawkers are happy to sacrifice public safety in order to advantage unfriendly invaders. In fact, a raza campaign against effective policing to protect citizens from crime has been going on for some time.

The move to dismantle police protection also extends to California lawmakers. The aforementioned Assembly member Tom Ammiano is about to submit legislation to undermine Secure Communities. (See California bill seeks to limit detention of arrestees facing deportation, LA Times, Jan 28.)

In addition, the timing of Niederauer’s event seemed crude, given that the San Francisco trial of Edwin Ramos is about to enter its second week. Ramos was the previously arrested (but not deported because of the city sanctuary policy) illegal alien accused of murdering Tony Bologna and his two sons in a mistaken-identity gang killing.

Here’s a report about the Archbishop’s shenanigans against law and order.

SF archbishop speaks against immigration program, Associated Press, January 28, 2012

A federal program that checks the immigration status of people booked into local jails is tearing immigrant families apart, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in San Francisco said at an interfaith gathering on Saturday.

“We cannot allow the pain of family separation and the fear amongst our communities to continue,” Archbishop George Niederauer said in comments directed against the federal Secure Communities program. “We need to respect the dignity of all our sisters and brothers, undocumented or not.”

Under the program, the fingerprints of individuals who are booked into jails are checked against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s database. Those found to be in the country illegally face deportation.

More than 1,700 jurisdictions participate in the program, which has resulted in the deportation of more than 110,000 immigrants convicted of crimes, according to ICE. 

But critics say the program has also ensnared people with no prior criminal convictions or those arrested for relatively minor violations.

“This program results in our brothers and sisters being sent to a detention center because they were stopped for as little as a traffic violation,” said Moises Agudo, a member of the San Francisco Archdiocese who also spoke at Saturday’ event.

The gathering at St. Mary’s Cathedral was attended by hundreds of people, many of them Hispanic immigrants.

ICE says it prioritizes the removal of illegal immigrants who pose the greatest threat to public safety and those who have repeatedly violated immigration laws. Of the more than 110,000 immigrants deported under the program, over 39,000 were convicted of aggravated felonies such as murder, rape and the sexual abuse of children, according to ICE.

But some local communities and states are not convinced. San Francisco and nearby Santa Clara County have sought permission from the federal government to opt out. And California considered legislation last year that would only let local communities participate in the program if they choose to do so through a resolution.

The bill was sponsored by San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, who attended Saturday’s gathering and said he plans to introduce similar legislation within 30 days.

“I believe my bill will reform the ICE act and the injustices they have perpetrated on all our people,” Ammiano said. “Together we can do this, together we are powerful.”