Feds will get illegals' fingerprints, ID info

Secure Communities mandates sharing info with immigration authorities

January 7, 2011
By Randy Wyrick
Vail, CO

EAGLE, Colorado — Eagle County could soon join a growing national program that shares fingerprints with federal agencies to identify illegal aliens.

Gov. Bill Ritter Wednesday joined governors from 35 other states in mandating the Secure Communities initiative.

It's designed so the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can identify all criminal illegal aliens so they can be more easily deported.

Law enforcement officials are required to report all detainees suspected of being illegal aliens.

Under Secure Communities, the fingerprints of every jail detainee will be turned over to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, then directly passed on to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for ICE to check for criminal records and immigration status.

We're already secure

While it might be new in Arapahoe, El Paso and Denver counties — the Colorado counties selected for pilot programs — it's old hat for the Eagle County Sheriff's Office.

“When we have people come in, we check them through ICE on a daily basis,â€