The federal government continues to implement a controversial deportation program despite intense criticism and the fact that three states, New York included, have already attempted to withdraw from participating in it.

Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it will continue to roll out its “Secure Communities” initiative, which requires local law enforcement agencies to share digital fingerprint records of people who are arrested with federal immigration officials, who then check the prints for a person’s green card status—and deport anyone found to be residing here illegally.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in June that New York would not comply with the program, and the DHS had originally conveyed that participation by states was optional. In this month’s announcement, however, DHS changed gears, saying it did not need state or local authorization to continue its practice of deporting based on arrest records.

New York legislators, including many here in the Bronx, continue the denounce to program, saying it would only harm communities with large immigrant populations and that the federal government is ignoring criticism of Secure Communities.

“That this announcement follows the decisions of three governors to withdraw from the program due to concerns for public safety is particularly unsettling,” Congressman Jose E. Serrano, who represents the Bronx, wrote in a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “I am troubled that instead of responding to these legitimate concerns, you are instead choosing to bypass the states and localities altogether.”

Nearly every Bronx state senator and Assembly member signed a letter sent to President Obama last week imploring him to suspend the program.

“Despite claims by DHS that Secure Communities was designed to promote public safety, by its very nature, the program fails to promote public safety because the moment local police engage in immigration enforcement they lose the trust of the communities they serve,” the letter stated.

In the statement sent out earlier this month, DHS contends that the program is “part of the Department’s focus on identifying and removing convicted criminal aliens who pose a public safety threat to American communities.” Critics, however, say the majority of people deported under Secure Communities were never convicted of a crime.