Controversial fingerprint database leads to 426 deportations

Program compares fingerprints of people arrested to immigration database

By Cornelius Frolik, Staff Writer
Updated 10:36 PM Tuesday, July 19, 2011

A controversial federal program that compares the fingerprints of people booked by local police agencies to a national immigration database has already led to the deportation of a few dozen people in the Miami Valley, including some non-criminal immigration violators.

Some local law enforcement officials said the federal program, called Secure Communities, is a practical way to identify criminal offenders who are in the country illegally and to promote border security, national security and public safety.

But critics claim the program promotes racial profiling, undermines local policing efforts and has resulted in the unjust deportation of many non-criminal immigrants and minor offenders.

In an analysis of federal data by the Dayton Daily News, of the roughly 40 people deported in the Miami Valley through the program from January 2010 to April 30 this year, 19 were convicted of aggravated felonies, other felonies or three ore more misdemeanors; eight were not convicted of any crimes; and 17 were convicted of just misdemeanors, according to an interoperability report by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Almost 77 percent of the 426 people deported through the program in Ohio were convicted of only misdemeanor crimes or no crimes at all, according to the report. About 98 were convicted of serious felonies or three or more misdemeanors.

“The (people) who are being deported under Secure Communities are typically extremely low-level, misdemeanor offenders,â€