Statistics rile critics of federal immigration programMost detained under Secure Communities have scant or no criminal records, data show.
desmoinesregister.com
Written by
JENS MANUEL KROGSTAD
12:13 AM, Sep. 11, 2011

Nearly 200 immigrants have been detained in Iowa in the past year under a federal enforcement program that the Obama administration is currently reviewing.

Called Secure Communities, the three-year-old program was designed to expand an existing information-sharing program between local and federal law enforcement.

Fingerprints of people booked in a local jail were previously run only through the FBI’s criminal database. Under Secure Communities, fingerprints are also now checked against a federal immigration database.

Critics of the program say it ensnares too many people who either have no prior criminal convictions or have been convicted of lesser crimes. Others, though, applaud the program because it encourages cooperation between local and federal law enforcement and helps identify and deport illegal immigrants.

“Secure Communities appealed to us because everybody’s fingerprinted, regardless of race, nationality, or anything else,â€