Thread: All of California now linked up to immigration enforcement

All of California now linked up to immigration enforcement network
By Matt O'Brien
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 02/25/2011 12:00:00 AM PST
Updated: 02/25/2011 08:49:24 AM PST

MARTINEZ -- The federal immigration agency has finally linked all California police agencies to reveal immigrants -- legal or not -- arrested for violating laws and subject to deportation.

The action, to be announced Friday morning in Southern California, enables U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to tag arrests and travel to all of the state's county jails to pick up immigrants accused of committing crimes.

In essence, local police, willingly or not, have become an arm of the federal immigration agency.

The fingerprints of everyone arrested by local police are now sent automatically to an electronic database reviewed by ICE, whose agents go to county jails to pick up immigrants thought to be deportable, including illegal immigrants and legal immigrants who may have committed a crime.

Since San Diego County became the first in the state to join in spring 2009, and the 57 other counties gradually followed suit, immigration agents say the network has helped bring in and deport 32,645 immigrants from California, including 23,712 who were convicted of a crime.

The program has the support of most of the Bay Area's nine county sheriffs, who oversee the local jails. More than 6,400 people arrested by Bay Area police departments have been delivered to ICE custody in the past year.

"It's more consistent. Fewer people are slipping through the cracks," said Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern.

Other local law enforcement leaders contend the program casts too wide a net, and erodes the relationship between police officers and the communities they are supposed to protect.

"It's not a program I'm enthusiastic about because an arrest is not a conviction," said Richmond police Chief Chris Magnus. "It's clear there's a very, very broad net of people who are getting swept up."

Magnus was surprised by the figures for Contra Costa County, which joined the network in April and has the Bay Area's highest number of immigration arrests and deportations. ICE has picked up nearly 2,000 immigrants from the county jails in Martinez and Richmond since April, and deported 657 of them by the end of January. Of those already deported, 367 were convicted of a crime.

In the four-month period ending Jan. 31, only Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties had more immigration arrests than Contra Costa.

The Obama administration considers Secure Communities an important tool in combating illegal immigration, and the program contributed to record-high deportations in recent years. ICE has described the program as targeting the "worst of the worst," capturing immigrants who committed crimes -- known as criminal aliens -- and removing them from the country.

Immigrant advocates say ICE's own data contradicts that argument. Serious criminals are a minority among the thousands caught through the system and deported. They point out that 27 percent of the Californians picked up by Secure Communities have no criminal records and that some were sent to deportation proceedings for violations as minor as running a stop sign.

"S-Comm has had a chilling effect on immigrants who would like to report crimes to police, but understandably are afraid to do so," said Angela Chan of the San Francisco-based Asian Law Caucus.

Marc Rapp, the acting national director of Secure Communities, countered that ICE prioritizes the people it chooses to pick up, and even those with no criminal record might be wanted for overstaying a visa or illegally re-entering the United States after being deported.

"Clearly we're not arresting and removing everyone we receive a match on," Rapp said.

The network has the support of Gov. Jerry Brown, who as state attorney general ratified and repeatedly defended the agreement with ICE to launch the network statewide.

"Some activist groups have come to talk to me about being a part of this. I simply told them that it's federal law, and we comply," said Ahern, the Alameda County sheriff. "And it was the opinion of then-Attorney General Brown that it was just for public safety, and the interest of justice."

Ahern said Alameda County's jails in Dublin and Oakland have long checked inmates' immigrant status. Previously, however, "we had to manually scan documents of people we suspected were foreign-born," he said.

All of the Bay Area counties joined Secure Communities last year, though two -- San Francisco and Santa Clara -- resisted. They eventually were told they had no choice because the state had an agreement with ICE. This week, six rural Northern California counties -- Alpine, Del Norte, Lassen, Sierra, Siskiyou and Trinity -- became the last of California's 58 counties to link up. The agency plans have to Secure Communities activated nationwide by 2013.

Criticism of the program, especially in the Bay Area, caused consternation among federal immigration officials, according to internal ICE e-mails made public last week.

In May last year, responding to questions raised in Santa Clara, one ICE official wrote of "defusing the situation before it escalates," and another wrote that Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, "is up in arms about this," according to e-mails obtained by a group called Uncover the Truth, which opposes the Secure Communities program.

A branch official with ICE, after giving Santa Clara authorities a more detailed explanation of the program, e-mailed that "our sense was that they were looking for political cover." But local officials continued to fight back, and other states and cities across the country increasingly were joining them.

Amid months of hand-wringing discussions, ICE tried to rework its national message about the program, and also sought to harden the federal government's arguments about the program being mandatory. In one undated document that is described as a "guide to handling sensitive jurisdictions," ICE officials were advised to create a "ring of interoperability" around local governments that resist Secure Communities, pressuring the detractors to join their neighbors.

"Deliberative, internal correspondence should not be confused for final policy," ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said in a statement about the released documents. "Because Secure Communities is fundamentally an information sharing partnership between federal agencies, state and local jurisdictions cannot opt out from the program, though state and local jurisdictions can opt not to receive the results of immigration queries."

The top-down process has frustrated some law enforcement leaders.

"Local communities have been largely left out of the decision-making," said Magnus, the Richmond police chief. "The way that this has been rolled out nationally has not been done in a particularly open or transparent way, and there has not been a really thoughtful discussion about the unintended consequences."

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, introduced a bill Feb. 18 that would force California to reconsider the language of its agreement with ICE. Ammiano wants cities and counties to be able to opt in or opt out, and also wants more statewide protections preventing domestic violence victims and other vulnerable immigrants from being taken into federal custody.

"California was one of the earliest states to sign on to it, but their memorandum is very generic," Ammiano said. "What we've agreed to in California is basically a boilerplate without any protections."

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-new ... ck_check=1

Related: http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-229387.html

"Go to your county jail website and count heads (booked in last 48hrs.) look for failure to appear, non-payment of fine, and look for repeat offenders it takes awhile but you'll see what I mean!"

Now lets get that damned border SECURED militarily so those deported can't come back.

ICE program securely implanted throughout California

Examiner Staff Writer

There were more than a few hiccups along the way, but Immigrations and Customs Enforcement announced Friday that they are now connected to every county in California through the Secure Communities fingerprint identification program.

Six northern California jurisdictions - Alpine, Del Norte, Lassen, Sierra, Siskiyou and Trinity counties – linked to the controversial program this week, meaning all 58 counties in the state now send information that is funneled through the state Department of Justice and then sent to the FBI, ICE and other federal authorities.

That doesn’t mean activists aren’t still trying to quash the program. A letter asking state Attorney General Kamala Harris to opt out of the program was sent during her transition to state office, yet she has yet to respond.

(to date, no county or city has been permitted to "opt out" ~ magyar)

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/blogs/under-d ... z1F0kV4jji

http://www.sfexaminer.com/blogs/under-d ... california

ICE to review fingerprints of everyone arrested statewide to check on immigration status

By Mediha Fejzagic DiMartino Staff Writer
Created: 02/25/2011 07:41:54 PM PST


Fingerprints now reveal more than just who robbed the bank - linked to all California police agencies, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement now has immediate acces to crooks' immigration status.

Under the Secure Communities program, the fingerprints of everyone arrested by local police are now sent automatically to an electronic database reviewed by ICE, whose agents go to county jails to pick up immigrants thought to be deportable, including illegal immigrants and legal immigrants who may have committed a crime.

"I oppose it because it forces local police to carry out the work, which is really the work of federal government," said Jose Calderon, professor of sociology at Pitzer College in Claremont. President Barack "Obama's administration said they only focus on criminals, but a lot of studies have shown that who they are picking up are individuals with minor offenses such as (expired) driver's license."

Immigration agents say the network has helped bring in and deport 32,645 immigrants from California, including 23,712 who were convicted of a crime since San Diego County became the first county in the state to join in spring 2009 and the 57 other counties followed suit.

Los Angeles County joined the effort in August 2009. Since then, ICE has taken into custody 13,378 immigrants, of which 7,083 were deported, in the county.

"It helps people from falling through the cracks," said Capt. Gerald Cooper, who heads the inmate reception center for the county Sheriff's Department. "It helps prevent us from allowing very dangerous people from getting out of custody and back into the community when they should be interviewed by ICE and potentially held by ICE."

The using fingerprint-based biometric identification technology has helped police get accurate information on someone's identity and criminal records, Claremont police Lt. Dennis Smith said.

"It will also tell you if a criminal warrant for detainment has been issued by ICE," Smith said. "In that case, if we have any pending charges, they would get resolved first and then ICE would take over the custody of the person. Otherwise, immigration status is not revealed, nor would we inquire about it. We simply don't do that, we are a municipal agency and (immigration) is not our mission."

Since San Bernardino County became a part of the network in April 2010, 577 people were take into ICE custody, of which 369 were deported.

When a person is booked into a county jail, the scan of their fingerprints is sent to Department of Justice, said Cindy Bachman, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

ICE is then able to review the data.

"We have an excellent working relationship with them," Bachman said.

The Obama administration considers Secure Communities an important tool in combating illegal immigration, and the program contributed to record-high deportations in recent years. ICE has described the program as targeting the "worst of the worst," capturing immigrants who committed crimes - known as criminal aliens - and removing them from the country.

Immigrant advocates say ICE's own data contradicts that argument. Serious criminals are a minority among the thousands caught through the system and deported. They point out that 27 percent of the Californians picked up by Secure Communities have no criminal records and that some were sent to deportation proceedings for violations as minor as running a stop sign.

"This type of enforcement prevents local police from developing close relationships in the immigrant communities and pushes them in shadows rather than to open their doors," Calderon said.

Marc Rapp, the acting national director of Secure Communities, countered that ICE prioritizes the people it chooses to pick up, and even those with no criminal record might be wanted for overstaying a visa or illegally re-entering the United States after being deported.

"Clearly we're not arresting and removing everyone we receive a match on," Rapp said.

The network has the support of Gov. Jerry Brown, who as state attorney general ratified and repeatedly defended the agreement with ICE to launch the network statewide.

This week, six rural Northern California counties - Alpine, Del Norte, Lassen, Sierra, Siskiyou and Trinity - became the last of California's 58 counties to link up. The agency plans have to Secure Communities activated nationwide by 2013.

Criticism of the program caused consternation among federal immigration officials, according to internal ICE e-mails made public last week.

In May 2010, responding to questions raised in Santa Clara, one ICE official wrote of "defusing the situation before it escalates," and another wrote that Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, "is up in arms about this," according to e-mails obtained by a group called Uncover the Truth, which opposes the Secure Communities program.

A branch official with ICE, after giving Santa Clara authorities a more detailed explanation of the program, e-mailed that "our sense was that they were looking for political cover." But officials continued to fight back, and other states and cities across the country increasingly were joining them.

Amid months of hand-wringing discussions, ICE tried to rework its national message about the program, and also sought to harden the federal government's arguments about the program being mandatory.

http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_17486301

"I oppose it because it forces local police to carry out the work, which is really the work of federal government," said Jose Calderon, professor of sociology at Pitzer College in Claremont. President Barack "Obama's administration said they only focus on criminals, but a lot of studies have shown that who they are picking up are individuals with minor offenses such as (expired) driver's license."

Holly smokes Batman, another LaRaza member