Thread: D.C. Council bill opposes immigrant fingerprint checks

D.C. Council bill opposes immigrant fingerprint checks
By: Freeman Klopott

April 29, 2010


Some D.C. Council members are planning to propose legislation that would prevent police from joining a federal program designed to catch illegal immigrants by matching fingerprints of arrestees against a database, officials said.

The District announced it was joining Secure Communities in November, but as the Washington Examiner reported earlier this month, the program has yet to get under way because police say they have run into technical difficulties.

Now, Councilmen Jim Graham and Phil Mendelson say they are sponsoring legislation that will prevent the program from ever being implemented. They plan to introduce it May 4.

Police Chief Cathy Lanier has said she favors using Secure Communities, which would check the fingerprints of every person who passes through the city's jail against an immigration database. But Lanier has said she does not want the program to be as sweeping as it is in other jurisdictions.



http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local ... 29484.html

Probably scared to death their criminal friends will be caught in some database.