Feds: NH in line for ID program

By TIM BUCKLAND
New Hampshire Union Leader
Sunday, Dec. 19, 2010

New Hampshire authorities could have the capability to provide fingerprint data to federal law-enforcement agencies beginning next year to help identify illegal immigrants arrested for crimes who could be deported if convicted, according to a federal agency website.

According to a map of "projected deployment" of the information sharing program on the ICE website, New Hampshire is expected to be ready to participate in the biometric sharing system sometime next year.

New Hampshire hasn't yet completely enrolled in the full Secure Communities program.

On Friday, Massachusetts authorities said they will participate in the program.

Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), last night said he couldn't confirm New Hampshire's launch date.

"By 2013, ICE plans to have fully deployed this technology to identify criminal aliens throughout the nation. Jurisdictions cannot opt out of Secure Communities as it is fundamentally an information sharing program between federal partners," he wrote in an e-mail last night. "Should a jurisdiction not wish to activate on its scheduled date in the Secure Communities deployment plan, ICE will gladly work with them to address any concerns and determine appropriate next steps."

The move should result in "little or no cost to our law enforcement partners," Feinstein said.

The ICE program allows arrestees' fingerprint information to be checked against FBI criminal history records and biometrics-based immigration records kept by the Department of Homeland Security.

New Hampshire State Police Col. Robert Quinn, reached last night, said: "I have not had any discussion about formalizing plans at this point."

On Friday, the top state public safety official in Massachusetts announced the state police there will participate in the federal program.

Public Safety Secretary Mary Beth Heffernan said state officials concluded that they have to participate.

"It has become clear now that this program is going to be mandatory for all communities in the near future," Heffernan said in a statement. "With that knowledge, we will sign the (agreement) with ICE."

In New Hampshire, the Hudson Police Department already participates in Secure Communities, having signed on in 2007. The program, called 287(g), authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to enter into agreements with state and local law-enforcement agencies and allows designated officers to perform immigration law enforcement functions.

The Secure Communities program has been roundly criticized by immigration reform and civil rights groups as promoting racial profiling.

In a statement on its website, the American Civil Liberties Union said the program "invites local law enforcement agencies to arrest 'foreign-looking' individuals for minor infractions or for no reason at all, purely in order to transmit their fingerprints to ICE and trigger their possible deportation."

On its website, the agency said it takes any allegation of racial profiling seriously and encourages anyone who believes they are a victim of racial profiling or other violations of civil rights or civil liberties to contact the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

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