Thread: 2 More Calif. counties begin ICE screening program

New tool to ‘secure communities’
By Samantha Yale Scroggin/Staff Writer sscroggin@lompocrecord.com | Posted: Thursday, January 7, 2010 12:00 am | (0) Comments

Secure Communities is the name, as well the purpose, of a program implemented this week in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties to help identify and remove dangerous criminal aliens from area neighborhoods.

Formerly, during the jail booking process, the fingerprints of those arrested locally were checked for criminal history in the Department of Justice biometric system maintained by the FBI, according to information from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE.)

With the new Secure Communities program administered by ICE, fingerprint information is also checked against the biometrics-based immigration records maintained by the Department of Homeland Security.

Should any fingerprints match those of someone in the Department of Homeland Security’s system, ICE is notified automatically and ensures criminals in the country illegally are not released back into the community.

Priority is given to inmates with previous convictions for crimes that pose great public threat.

With Secure Communities arriving in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, there are now six California counties participating in the initiative, and the entire country is expected to be using the system by 2013, according to ICE.

Secure Communities has been a success in nearby Ventura and Los Angeles counties since it started there last summer, said Ray Kovacic, assistant field office director for ICE.

“The next natural choices were Santa Barbara and SLO counties,â€

Originally Posted by Ratbstard

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Is your STATE on the list?

Is your COUNTY on the list?

Is Your CITY on the list?

Living here in NY I wept as I read this. Run Levy, RUN!

This is the only info I could find about New York.

ICE will continue and expand the use of its Rapid REPAT (Removal of Eligible Parolees Accepted for Transfer) program whereby non-violent criminal aliens serving state sentences receive early parole in exchange for assisting in their removal from the United States. The program has proven successful in New York and Arizona and ICE seeks to establish Rapid REPAT programs in four additional states by the end of FY 2008.
ICE will provide 24/7 nationwide operational coverage for the Criminal Alien Program by assigning additional personnel in field offices, standing up command centers in priority areas, and expanding use of video teleconferencing to remotely interview and process criminals who are subject to removal.

ICE will increase local law enforcement partnerships through 287(g) cross-designation that allows trained officers to interview and initiate removal proceedings of aliens processed through their detention facilities.
For more information, please click here to view a comprehensive fact sheet http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/factsheets/s ... nities.htm

http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleases ... ington.htm


New York Times opposes Secure Communities
Channeling their inner ACLU, ... the Department of Homeland Security's Secure Communities program that checks ...
24ahead.com/new-york-times-opposes-secure-communities

More New York info.

Customs Cross-DesignationThe ICE Rapid REPAT (Removal of Eligible Parolees Accepted for Transfer) ... In 1985 and 1995, New York amended sections of the New York executive law to ...
www.ice.gov/pi/news/.../icerapidrepat.htm - 14 hours ago - Cached - Similar

Rapid Repat for California prisons - Los Angeles TimesFeb 16, 2009 ... The success of Rapid Repat in other states demonstrates its potential in California. New York has used a version of this program since 1995, ...
articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/16/opinion/oe-wood16 - Cached

Rapid REPAT Anyone? | Center for Immigration StudiesFeb 12, 2009 ... ICE has a program, known as Rapid REPAT to do just that. ... According to ICE, the state of New York has saved $148 million dollars, ...
www.cis.org/vaughan/RapidREPEATinCA - Cached

ICE Fact Sheet - Rapid REPAT Program (8/24/09)Jan 2, 2010 ... The ICE Rapid REPAT (Removal of Eligible Parolees Accepted for Transfer) program is ... The History of the New York and Arizona Programs ...
www.scribd.com/.../ICE-Fact-Sheet-Rapid ... am-8-24-09 - Cached

Daniel's Political MusingsFeb 4, 2009 ... We could instead release them using rapid REPAT. ... Said Muzaffar Chishti, Director of MPI's Office at New York University School of ...
danielisright.blogspot.com/2009/02/fix-budget-use-rapid-repat.html - Cached

Rapid Repat is there a possibility we CAN get him deported sooner ...Jul 6, 2008 ... We know he is being deported, but this new Rapid Repat Program is designed ... Some states, such as Arizona and New York, have had in place ...
www.prisontalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=349064 - Cached

Inmate deportation program still sluggish - USATODAY.comDec 7, 2008 ... Rapid REPAT was modeled after similar programs in New York and Arizona, and federal officials said those initiatives have saved millions of ...
www.usatoday.com/news/.../2008-12-07-im ... ates_N.htm - Cached

FLORIDA Secure Communities as of Aug. 2009

Florida

Duval
Marion
Clay
St. Johns
Charlotte
St. Lucie
Collier
Hillsborough
Miami Dade
Broward

Map of current Secure Communities and planned roll-out dates @

http://www.ice.gov/secure_communities/d ... _phase1_lg

Every U.S. County that touches Mexico is already active.

Most of the new ones for 2010 are in California and Arizona, with a few in other states.

The rest of the country is scheduled for 2011-2013.

Activated Counties

Arizona
Pinal
Yuma
Yavapai
Maricopa

California
San Diego
Ventura
Los Angeles
Imperial
Santa Barbara 1/2010
San Luis Obispo 1/2010

Massachusetts
Suffolk

New Mexico
Dona Ana
Grant
Hidalgo
Luna
Pennsylvania
Montgomery
Bucks
Philadelphia
Virginia
Fairfax

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

We'd all like to see more done. But that doesn't mean that we can't appreciate the deportation of criminal illegal aliens from our jails and prisons.
Well from the jails and prisons in the 15 states that actually do anything. to make that happen.

While we appreciate whatever enforcement is belatedly being done -- and hope it continues and expands -- my point is that Obama, Napolitano et al. will not be truly serious about enforcement until they go after employers, and restart workplace raids and remove illegal employees as well as criminal aliens. This can be done by attrition through enforcement, rather than de facto amnesty for millions of illegal workers.

The goal being to free up jobs for unemployed Americans -- which this adminstration has proved by gutting effective enforcement they have no intention of doing.

Florida
Pinellas 11/12/2009

Georgia
Gwinnett 11/17/2009
Clayton 11/17/2009
DeKalb 11/17/2009

Virginia
Prince Williams 9/30/2009

North Carolina

Wake
Buncombe
Gaston
Henderson
Duplin
New Hanover
Orange
Harnett
Cabarrus
Catawba
Cumberland
Durham


That's All Folks

Some needed context to the above from our friend, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee:
---

Statistics from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency charged with enforcing the nation’s immigration laws, reveal significant drops in work site enforcement activity across the board. Administrative arrests (arrests of illegal immigrants who will be placed into deportation proceedings) have fallen 68 percent, criminal arrests are down 60 percent, criminal indictments have fallen 58 percent and criminal convictions are down 63 percent — all in just one year!

The administration says that it has increased the number of I-9 audits of employers. But those audits are a farce. Employers consider an occasional minor fine just the cost of doing business.

The administration also claims that audits lead to criminal investigations. That statement is true — audits can lead to investigations — but the administration’s own record demonstrates that they haven’t. As the number of audits has increased, the number of cases initiated has dropped by more than 30 percent, from an average of 93 per month to just 61.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30128.html