Federal Secure Communities program working in Alamance County

April 24, 2012 7:51 AM
Chris Lavender / Times-News

GRAHAM — All 100 counties in North Carolina have the federal Secure Communities program available for use to help identify illegal immigrants who have been arrested.

According to the federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Southern Region Communications Director Vincent Picard, the Secure Communities program was implemented in September 2010 in Alamance County and has led to the removal of 53 illegal immigrants from the county.

Alamance County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Randy Jones said in a Times-News article on April 14 that Alamance County does not use Secure Communities. Jones said on Monday that he misspoke and didn’t intend to be misleading about the role Secure Communities has in the county.

Jones said Monday that the county’s 287 (g) program and the Secure Communities program use the same federal database to process illegal immigrants who are identified with fingerprint analysis.

Jones said that 287 (g) also uses photo identification to identify illegal immigrants, while the Secure Communities program does not. Jones said that all law enforcement agencies in the county have access to the Secure Communities program.

“The Sheriff’s Office doesn’t rely on Secure Communities because the 287 (g) program already does what Secure Communities can do,” Jones said.

The 287 (g) program trains and authorizes local law enforcement and jailers as federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers for the purpose of deporting people in the country illegally. The Alamance County Sheriff’s Office implemented the 287 (g) program in 2007 in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security. Alamance County is among seven jurisdictions statewide that have implemented 287 (g) since 2006.

Secure Communities uses existing federal information - sharing partnership between ICE and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that helps identify criminal aliens without imposing new or additional requirements on state and local law enforcement. The federal government, not the state or local law enforcement agencies, determines what immigration enforcement action is appropriate.

Jones said 287 (g) allows local law enforcement to immediately interview those processed to determine immigration status while Secure Communities does not offer this on-site interview option. Jones said he believes both 287 (g) and Secure Communities are effective but that 287 (g) is a better program because it allows law enforcement to place detainers on those arrested much faster than Secure Communities.

Jones said the fingerprints of those arrested and processed through Secure Communities are reviewed by ICE agents off-site in places like Miami or Charlotte who then have to notify local law enforcement if a detainer should be filed. Jones said this process typically takes longer to complete than detaining illegal immigrants using 287 (g).

“We have Secure Communities as a function but to say we use it is a misnomer,” Jones said. “287 (g) is more detailed. Our machines are automatically hooked up to Secure Communities and get the same information as 287 (g).”

Jones said the Sheriff’s Office usually disregards notices from Secure Communities because the individuals have already been processed through 287 (g) and detained. Picard said the two federal programs sometimes overlap in their duties.

Picard said in March that Secure Communities is more efficient and cost effective in identifying and removing criminal aliens than the 287 (g) program. ICE plans to discontinue the least productive 287 (g) task force agreements in those jurisdictions where Secure Communities is already in place.

Jones said it would be up to ICE whether to end its task force agreement with the Sheriff’s Office.

The Department of Homeland Security has expanded Secure Communities from 14 jurisdictions in 2008 to more than 2,730jurisdictions today. DHS is on track to expand Secure Communities to all 3181 law enforcement jurisdictions nationwide by 2013.

Jones said most of the illegal immigrants removed from Alamance County since September 2010 through Secure Communities were most likely those arrested by the Burlington Police Department, Mebane Police Department, Graham Police Department, and other local law enforcement agencies.

Federal Secure Communities program working in Alamance County | graham, program, alamance - Burlington Times News