I had a chance this morning to ask Sen. Chuck Schumer about the prospects for a comprehensive immigration bill, something he has pledged to introduce this year as head of the immigration subcommittee. Schumer took the lead on immigration reform at the request of the late Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy. Today he noted that his own approach would be somewhat different.

“I’m not doing it quite the way he did. I’m a little more moderate than he is on some of these things. But getting the job done is what he wanted,” Schumer said after a news conference in White Plains.

The new bill will have a greater emphasis on enforcement, he said. I asked about the complaints from immigrant advocates that the administration is sending mixed signals as it expands the 287(g) police program and maintains the system of detention.

“You have to be tough on enforcing, because the American people will be fair and open and generous on legal immigration if they’re convinced their isn’t future wave after wave after wave of illegal immigrant,” Schumer said.

About the bill: “It’ll be aware of need for immigrants, and aware of the importance of immigrants. All of the people we’ve talked to, business, labor, liberal, conservative, are saying get something done and do it smartly. Even Lou Dobbs, who is anti-immigration, he had some positive words to say about the approach we’re taking.”

A handful of local groups are among 500 across the country that signed a letter asking President Obama to “immediately terminate the 287(g) program.”

Among the names are the Hispanic Resource Center of Larchmont and Mamaroneck, the Sisters of the Divine Compassion and the Mount Kisco Drug and Alcohol Council. Others were the Hudson Valley Community Coalition, Westchester Hispanic Coalition and Rockland Immigration Coalition.

The Aug. 25 letter, by Marielena Hincapie of the National Immigration Law Center, dismisses the administration’s plan to add oversight to the program, which trains local law enforcement to check a person’s immigration status and to begin deportation duties. Instead she focuses on the risks of racial profiling:

The program, largely recognized as a failed Bush experiment, relinquishes the power to enforce immigration law to local law enforcement and corrections agencies and has resulted in the widespread use of pretextual traffic stops, racially motivated questioning, and unconstitutional searches and seizures primarily in communities of color.

The full text is linked to the law center’s web site.

El Centro Hispano in White Plains has always had an outsized mission — answering to the needs of a  growing population of Spanish-speaking immigrants. The agency started up in 1973 at St. Bernard’s Church, providing referrals and information. This week the organization is inviting the parish to celebrate the recent expansion of its offices, carried out with $275,000 in private donations and a lot of volunteer labor.

The main improvement is the new computer room and remodeled offices. The adjoining church hall, where Centro Hispano holds events and discussions, was refurbished also. The nonprofit agency rents its office from the Archdiocese of New York. It received no grant money for the expansion.

Executive Director Isabel Villar (below) described how the office has expanded by a few feet at a time over the last three decades, eventually taking over what used to be a closet.

Villar joined St. Bernard’s in 1966 as a recent immigrant. “When I came from Cuba,” she said, “this was my shelter.”

Judith Aucar, the assistant director (below), is also a Cuban immigrant. The clients have shifted from the Cuban and Puerto Rican families who came in the 1960s to the South Americans, Mexicans and Dominicans who came in later immigrant waves. The center is home to bilingual Scout troops, English classes and visiting speakers. The idea was to help integrate the Hispanic community and bring information to its prime gathering spot, the church.

White Plains is about 32 percent foreign-born, and 29 percent Hispanic, according to the latest census estimate. It’s also home to the countywide Westchester Hispanic Coalition, a much larger nonprofit that provides services in health, immigration, community advocacy and housing, and operates a Port Chester hiring site.

Below is the new computer room, where classes began in May for adults and seniors (16-week sessions for adults, 9-week sessions for seniors). The room also serves as a drop-in center for homework assistance after school. The computers, like those at the White Plains Public Library, link to the school district’s network.

There’s more info at the center’s web site.

Here are some of the reactions to Sen. Ted Kennedy’s death, in view of his work toward immigration reform.

Doris Meissner, former INS Commissioner and a fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, said his work for the Immigration Act of 1965 was just the start of five decades’ worth of advocacy:

In so doing, Senator Kennedy helped change the character of the immigration system, and indeed the country, bringing the United States a step closer to its founding ideals of fairness and opportunity for all. Senator Kennedy had a tremendous sense of trying to address injustice and right wrongs—and there are plenty of them in the immigration field—and he was always there, working and prodding to make the immigration system a better, fairer one.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who inherits Kennedy’s role as champion of an immigration overhaul:

Ted Kennedy was a mentor, a guiding light, and a close friend—we all loved the man. In the Senate, Ted Kennedy was our sun – the center of our universe. To be pulled by his strong gravitational field, to bask in his warmth was a privilege, an honor, and, for many of us, even a life changing experience. His death leaves our world dark but, as he said in his own words, ‘the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.’ Ted, we will not let your flag fall.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who teamed up with Kennedy on the reform bill synonymous with their names, cited his colleague’s accomplishments:

My friend, Ted Kennedy, was famous before he was accomplished. But by the end of his life he had become irreplaceable in the institution he loved and in the affections of its members. He grew up in the long shadow of his brothers, but found a way to be useful to his country in ways that will outlast their accomplishments.

Janet Murguía, president of the Latino civil rights group National Council of La Raza, cited his efforts for working families:

The Latino community is grieving today because we have lost a tireless champion and a true friend.  No senator in history has supported more legislation that will improve the lives of our community than Senator Kennedy. He became a household name for so many Latinos.

Senator Kennedy has been at the forefront of every major debate affecting the Latino community, including civil rights, increasing educational opportunities for English language learners, improving the country’s health care system, and comprehensive immigration reform.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, praised the senator as an example to follow.

Senator Kennedy’s life is a testimony to the difference a single policy-maker can make. As an advocate for the persecuted and displaced, Senator Kennedy could expect no reward for his efforts. He did what he did from the conviction that it was the right thing to do – and wholly in line with the great American tradition of providing help and hope to those who have suffered from injustice and war.

Year after year, conflict after conflict, Senator Kennedy kept the plight of refugees on the international and national agenda, promoting policies and laws that saved and shaped countless lives. The world is diminished by his passing. But we will always have his example to inspire us.

Sen. Ted Kennedy’s accomplishments were many, and his efforts to reform the immigration system will be one of his lasting legacies. USA Today recalls the 1965 reform as one of his first major bills. Attorney Patrick Young of Long Island Wins offers a detailed and personal tribute.

Remember when NYC was derided as a “sanctuary city” during the GOP primary? The city’s confidentiality policy limits the circumstances under which municipal employees should ask or share information about a person’s immigration status. Those limits never applied to police investigating criminal suspects, but that detail was usually lost in the discussion.

Anyway, immigrant advocates today launched a campaign to further scale back the city’s cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement — specifically when it comes to people in city jails. About 4,000 inmates with the New York City Department of Corrections are interviewed by ICE each year, a group of advocates and religious leaders said, and 3,000 are placed in deportation proceedings.

This track record would not exactly provoke outrage from, say, the candidates for Putnam County Sheriff, who are promising to seek a 287g agreement and other forms of increased cooperation with ICE. But the NYC advocates protest that ICE is interviewing most of these criminal detainees before trial, when the charges might be dropped. The advocates also object to working in concert with a secretive detention system that is criticized as inhumane.

(For the latest revelations on the immigrant detention system, see the NY Times story about 10 additional detainee deaths that came to light because of an ACLU lawsuit. Reporter Nina Bernstein discussed the system and the unreported deaths today on WNYC.)

The city has agreed to help ensure that inmates know that the ICE interviews are voluntary. Other steps will be brought up for the city council’s consideration, such as refusing ICE access to pre-trial detainees, according to a press release from the organization Make the Road New York.

The borough of Queens, where at least 48 percent of the population is foreign-born, will have its own office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services next year, the agency announced today. USCIS has a regional office at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan and a satellite office in Garden City, Long Island.

The agency, which handles citizenship applications and other paperwork, plans to move into two floors of a converted warehouse at 27-35 Jackson Ave. in early 2010.

What are your questions about Westchester County’s pending agreement to settle a lawsuit over residential segregation and affordable housing?

Clearly this is not an immigration issue, but the lawsuit is bringing up questions about race discrimination, housing subsidies and the county’s demographics. We’ll use this space to look into the concrete aspects of the agreement and the reasons behind it. You can post your question in the “reply” section below or email us. I’m at lrae@lohud.com and reporter Gerald McKinstry is at gmckinst@lohud.com.

For the latest on the settlement:

County Executive Andrew Spano warns about the lessons learned during the Yonkers desegregation case, McKinstry reports here.

Some of the first residents of Yonkers’ court-ordered housing, built in the early 90s, spoke to me about their experiences in this story.

Columnist Phil Reisman follows up on Spano’s comments to lawmakers, when he warned that to vote against the plan would be to give in to racism.

The NY Times’ Peter Applebome examines the historical and regional context, and Joseph Berger gets reaction in Chappaqua.

Reporter Suzan Clarke reports:

SPRING VALLEY – Six people are running in the Democratic mayoral primary election in the village, but only five – the ones who are Haitian-American – were invited to a candidates’ debate held exclusively in Creole yesterday evening.

he candidate who wasn’t invited, Bernard Charles, is African-American. He feels the decision to hold a Haitian-only candidates’ debate in a foreign language was exclusionary.

“It’s sad, because at this time in the community, we need to all come together and work as one. This is not good,” he said.

The event was held at the Finkelstein Memorial Library.

Suffolk County is moving ahead with a Hate Crimes Task Force, prompted by the slaying of  Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero in Patchogue, Long Island. Unimpressed by a county public service on the issue, the Long Island Wins blog is holding a “Speak Out/Stop Hate video contest for students who can help to teach tolerance in a 30-second clip. The winning entry will be featured in a Latino film festival in November.

Another video contest is under way at Imagine 2050, a blog about racism and anti-immigrant sentiment. Like the site, the video contest explores the census projection that “In the year 2050, America will be a nation of minorities. How will America adjust to the cultural changes that will occur over the next 40 years?” You can see the first few entries here.

Meanwhile, the Hatewatch blog at the Southern Poverty Law Center is warning about a resurgence of the anti-government, militia-based “Patriot” movement — motivated this time by race. The election of a black president, together with the decreased percentage of whites and the influx of non-white immigrants, has prompted a resurgence, Mark Potok writes here.