Agents use biometrics to finger illegal aliens

BY MICHELLE BRADFORD

When Rabit Yamil Quiroz-Uvando was booked into the Washington County jail in May, a fingerprint check showed he’d been arrested before under other names. Another check of U. S. Department of Homeland Security databases showed more: Quiroz-Uvando is an illegal alien from Mexico who was deported in 2006, according to court records.

The sheriff ’s office then had to rely on federal agents to check Department of Homeland Security databases to determine Quiroz-Uvando’s status. Now, specially trained deputies are allowed to do it themselves.

Nineteen officers from four police agencies in Northwest Arkansas are authorized to enforce federal immigration law under the program known as 287 (g ), and all of them will have direct access to the Department of Homeland Security identification system.

The Automated Biometrics Identification System, known as IDENT, goes beyond the national crime database police already access.

It shows if someone is legally in the United States, if he’s been deported before and any contact he’s had with U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Border Patrol, said Rod Reyes, supervising agent at Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Fort Smith.

Those determinations are key to the work of the 19 officers who graduated Sept. 18 from 287 (g ) training.

“Not only can IDENT confirm identity when someone gives us a bogus name, it shows if they have document [ation ] to be in the country,â€