Opponents of a mandatory federal immigration program called “Secure Communities” began rallying in cities that were the last holdouts in implementing the controversial program.

The protesters included immigrants, civil rights activists and elected officials.

Secure Communities is a controversial program that requires local police to share fingerprints with immigration officials. The federal government has been implementing it in phases, planning eventually to have it in place nationwide.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, sees the program as a tool for finding and deporting undocumented criminals.

Opponents say it can easily lead to profiling and that it actually makes communities less secure by damaging relations between immigrants and police.

“It has been clear from its inception that this program undermines our safety and infringes on our civil rights,” said Chung-Wha Hong of the New York Immigration Coalition in a statement. “And yet the criticism goes unheeded by the administration.”

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