Thread: Georgia now 100% I.C.E. Secure Communities

I.C.E. News Release

June 21, 2011

Atlanta, GA

4 additional Georgia counties to benefit from ICE program to enhance identification and removal of aliens convicted of a crime

ATLANTA – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday began using a federal information-sharing capability as part of the Secure Communities program in Coffee, Dougherty, Grady and Jeff Davis counties to help federal immigration officials identify criminal aliens in state prisons and local jails by running their fingerprints against federal immigration databases when they are booked into the system.

"Secure Communities enhances public safety by enabling ICE to identify and remove criminal aliens more efficiently and effectively from the United States," said Secure Communities Acting Assistant Director Marc Rapp. "As we expand ICE's use of biometric information sharing nationwide, we are helping to keep communities safe and ensuring the integrity of our immigration system."

With the expansion of the use of biometric information sharing to these four counties, ICE is using this capability in 38 Georgia jurisdictions. Across the country, ICE is using this capability in 1,417 jurisdictions in 43 states and territories. As a result of ICE's use of this enhanced information-sharing capability, which began in October 2008 through May 31, 2011, ICE has removed more than 82,000 criminal aliens including more than 29,000 of whom were convicted of felonies such as murder, rape, kidnapping and the sexual abuse of children. ICE continues to work with its law enforcement partners across the country to responsibly and effectively implement this federal information sharing capability and plans to reach complete nationwide deployment by 2013.

Prior to the implementation of Secure Communities, fingerprints taken of individuals charged with a crime and booked into state or local custody were checked for criminal history information against the Department of Justice's (DOJ) criminal history records. Once it is activated in a jurisdiction, the fingerprints that jurisdiction submits to DOJ's biometric system to check for criminal history records are also automatically sent to DHS's biometric system to check against its immigration law enforcement records. When a match is discovered, ICE evaluates the specific case to determine the individual's immigration status and takes appropriate enforcement action. ICE prioritizes removing criminal aliens convicted of the most serious crimes such as major drug offenses, murder, rape and kidnapping. ICE also gives high priority to other threats to public safety, such as aliens with known gang affiliations, drunk driving arrests, or fugitives, or those who frequently try to game the immigration system.

The biometric systems are maintained by DHS's US-VISIT program and the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division.

"US-VISIT is proud to support ICE by providing comprehensive, reliable information to assist in the smart and effective enforcement of our immigration laws," said US-VISIT Director Robert Mocny. "By enhancing the interoperability of DHS's and the FBI's biometric systems, we are helping federal, state and local government better protect our communities and our nation."

"Under this federal information-sharing initiative, ICE will be utilizing FBI system enhancements that allow improved information sharing at the state and local law enforcement level based on positive identification of incarcerated criminal aliens," said Daniel D. Roberts, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division. "Additionally, ICE and the FBI are working together to take advantage of the strong relationships already forged between the FBI and state and local law enforcement necessary to assist ICE in achieving its goals."

For more information about Secure Communities, visit www.ice.gov/secure_communities .

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

ICE is a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit www.ICE.gov. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423.

U.S. Dept of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1106/110621atlanta.htm

On July 12, 2011 Monroe county was added to Georgia's Secure Communities,
for a total of 39 of 159.

4 new I.C.E. Secure Communities for Georgia this week.
for a total of 43 of 159.

November 17, 2009
Clayton
DeKalb
Gwinnett

September 8, 2010
Cobb
Fulton
Muscogee

October 13, 2010
Hall
Whitfield

November 16, 2010
Cherokee

December 14, 2010
Forsyth

January 19, 2011
Henry
Rockdale
Spalding

February 15, 2011
Barrow
Newton
Walton

March 15, 2011
Chatham
Coweta
Fayette
Glynn
Troup

March 22, 2011
Houston
April 5, 2011
Colquitt
Lowndes

April 12, 2011
Carroll
Douglas
Paulding

May 17, 2011
Bartow
Floyd
Polk

June 14, 2011
Clarke
Habersham
Jackson
Pickens

June 21, 2011
Coffee
Dougherty
Grady
Jeff Davis

July 12, 2011
Monroe

July 19, 2011
Catoosa
Gordon
Murray
Walker

Georgia added 116 communities to the Secure Communities list this week
and is now 100% I.C.E. Secure Communities. 159 of 159 activated.

December 6, 2011

Appling Atkinson Bacon Baker Baldwin Banks Ben Hill Berrien Bibb Bleckley Brantley Brooks Bryan Bulloch Burke Butts Calhoun Camden Candler Charlton Chattahoochee Chattooga Clay Clinch Columbia Cook Crawford Crisp Dade Dawson Decatur Dodge Dooly Early Echols Effingham Elbert Emanuel Evans Fannin Franklin Gilmer Glascock Greene Hancock Haralson Harris Hart Heard Irwin Jasper Jefferson Jenkins Johnson Jones Lamar Lanier Laurens Lee Liberty Lincoln Long Lumpkin Macon Madison Marion McDuffie McIntosh Meriwether Miller Mitchell Montgomery Morgan Oconee Oglethorpe Peach Pierce Pike Pulaski Putnam Quitman Rabun Randolph Richmond Schley Screven Seminole Stephens Stewart Sumter Talbot Taliaferro Tattnall Taylor Telfair Terrell Thomas Tift Toombs Towns Treutlen Turner Twiggs Union Upson Ware Warren Washington Wayne Webster Wheeler White Wilcox Wilkes Wilkinson Worth

www.ice.gov

GA - 3,009 deported by Secure Communities

110,044 Deported by Secure Communities as of 11/30/2011

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-252006.html

RELATED

Program targeting illegal aliens up and running across GA.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-257109.html

All of Georgia's Sheriffs now sharing fingerprint info with feds to catch, deport illegal immigrants

11:42 AM, Dec 10, 2011

ATLANTA, Ga. -- Fingerprints are playing an increasing role in immigration enforcement.

As of Tuesday, the fingerprints of everyone booked into jail by all 159 Georgia Sheriffs, every day, are being turned over to federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

It's one more way for the feds to catch and deport illegal immigrants.

Supporters say you can't argue with the numbers. They say the increased numbers of deportations resulting from the fingerprint information prove the value of using fingerprints to check the immigration status of everyone who is arrested.

The program has been phasing in, in Georgia, since Nov. 17, 2009, when the Sheriffs of Clayton, DeKalb and Gwinnett Counties became the first in the state to participate in the nationwide "Secure Communities" ICE program.

Other Sheriffs signed on during the next two years, culminating in all 159 of them joining the program as of Dec. 6.

On Thursday, Vincent Picard, the Southern Region Communications Director/Spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in Atlanta, told 11Alive's Jon Shirek that so far, in Georgia, the fingerprints have led to the deportation of 4,289 illegal immigrants who, at the time they were arrested in Georgia for various offenses, already had long rap sheets in Georgia and/or other states.

And 817 of them, 19 percent of them, were "Level One" convicted criminals, the worst of the worst -- convicted murderers, rapists, child molesters.

Nationwide, Picard said, the program, so far, has resulted in an 89 percent increase in the deportations of convicted criminals who were in the U.S. illegally.

But, Picard said, there has been a corresponding, 29 percent decrease in the deportations illegal immigrants who do not have criminal records.

"It shows that we are focusing our limited resources on getting violent criminals out of the U.S.," Picard said.

Now that all Georgia Sheriffs are participating in the fingerprint-sharing program, Picard expects that the deportations of those with criminal records will continue to increase.

There are critics of the program.

Jerry Gonzalez, the Executive Director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, pointed out that even the most conservative, anti-immigration political leaders make a distinction between 1) violent illegal immigrants, and 2) most everyone else -- those who are otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants.

Gonzalez said people who are living here illegally but peacefully are increasingly afraid that they will be fingerprinted simply for coming forward to report crimes in their neighborhoods.

"People who commit serious crimes need to be deported," he said. "However, the immigrant community will be reluctant to report crimes or suspicious activity, and that decreases public safety for everyone. We need the immigrant community to feel comfortable to call 911."

Gonzalez said the neighborhood police officers are being seen, increasingly, as federal immigration agents, hindering them from doing their jobs in local policing.

Gonzalez and others say that that politicians, who have not been able to figure out what to do with peaceful illegal immigrants in the U.S., should not be relying on this fingerprint-sharing program to round them up along with those who are violent -- and Gonzalez insists that "innocent" undocumented residents are being rounded up despite the official statement that fewer of them are being deported under the program.

As it is, the program is expected to be deployed nationwide by 2013.

Here is the statement that Vincent Picard of ICE in Atlanta emailed to 11Alive News on Thursday. And, on the video, are Jerry Gonzalez's comments, which he gave to 11Alive News as he was arriving at the airport Thursday evening from an out-of-town conference.

Vincent Picard, ICE/Atlanta:

Secure Communities promotes the agency's top enforcement priority of finding and removing those who are unlawfully present, or otherwise removable and have criminal convictions, by relying on an already-existing federal information-sharing program, consisting of the sharing of biometric data between two federal law enforcement agencies -- DHS (Department of Homeland Security) and the FBI. Once a state or local law enforcement agency submits fingerprint data to the federal government, no agreement with the state is legally necessary for one part of the federal government to share it with another part.

Secure Communities has demonstrated its effectiveness in transforming immigration enforcement to a focus on criminal offenders. To date, more than 110,000 convicted criminal aliens (nationwide) were removed after an identification through Secure Communities, including more than 39,000 convicted of major violent offenses like murder, rape and the sexual abuse of children. Approximately 94% of the total Secure Communities removals fall within ICE's civil enforcement priorities including convicted criminals, recent illegal border entrants and those who game the immigration system: immigration fugitives and repeat immigration law violators such as individuals who illegally re-enter the country after having been removed, a federal felony offense.

ICE continues to work with its law enforcement partners across the country to responsibly and effectively implement this federal information sharing capability and plans to reach complete nationwide activation by the end of 2013. The scheduled nationwide deployment by 2013 is to ensure that ICE has the resources and necessary infrastructure in place to support this initiative."

Background:

As of Dec. 8, ICE is currently using Secure Communities in 1,882 jurisdictions in 43 states and Puerto Rico. Secure Communities has been fully implemented in 21 states, including Georgia, and one U.S. territory (Puerto Rico).

On Dec. 6, statewide activation of this enhanced federal information sharing capability in all 159 counties in Georgia was activated.

Since ICE implemented Secure Communities in Oct. 2008 through Oct. 31, 2011, ICE has removed 149,841 persons including a total of 110,044 criminal aliens. Of the total 110,044 criminal aliens removed, 39,578 were level 1 offenders convicted of aggravated felonies like murder, rape and the sexual abuse of children; 24,235 level 2s were removed; and 46,231 level 3s were removed.

Level 1 offenders are criminal aliens convicted of serious crimes, such as homicide, rape, drug trafficking, threats to national security and other "aggravated felonies" as described in § 101(a)(43) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Also, Level 1 offenders include criminal aliens convicted of two or more felonies.

Level 2 criminals have been convicted of a single felony, such as a property crime or extortion. Also, level 2 offenders include criminal aliens convicted of three or more misdemeanors.

Level 3 criminals have been convicted of misdemeanors such as DUI and drug offenses.

The Sept. 30, 2011 removals include those where a criminal conviction was not on record but had been removed following a criminal arrest. Of that group, 26,673 had been previously removed or returned from the United States; 4,460 were ICE fugitives; and 8,664 were individuals who entered the country without inspection, were visa violators, or were overstays.

Under Secure Communities, state and local law enforcement officers continue enforcing their state or local law in the same manner in which they always have. Under Secure Communities, state and local law enforcement officers are not deputized, do not enforce immigration law, and are not tasked with any additional responsibilities. In fact, State and local law enforcement officers are asked to enforce the law in exactly the same manner as they did before Secure Communities was activated in their jurisdiction. In this program, only federal officers make immigration decisions, and they do so only after a completely independent decision by state and local law enforcement to arrest an individual for a criminal violation of state law separate and apart from any violations of immigration law.

For more information and statistics about Secure Communities, including for statistics specific to Georgia, please see:

< http://www.ice.gov/doclib/foia/sc-stats ... o-date.pdf >

< http://www.ice.gov/secure_communities

http://www.11alive.com/news/article/216 ... immigrants

RELATED

http://www.alipac.us/f12/new-immigra...unties-250338/
December 8, 2011

RELATED

http://www.alipac.us/f12/minnesota-n...nities-250335/
Feb. 7, 2012

RELATED

http://www.alipac.us/f12/5-000-deported-georgia-252956/ by Secure Communities