Secure Communities task force member rejects termination of program agreements
By Marcos Restrepo | 08.10.11 | 10:58 am

The National Immigration Forum — a member of a task force created by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to help improve its Secure Communities immigration enforcement program — is questioning ICE’s decision to terminate agreements to implement the program in an effort to prevent agencies from opting out of it altogether.

Secure Communities allows local law enforcement agencies to check the fingerprints of people they detain and match them up with federal immigration and criminal databases, with the stated goal of deporting criminals.

Some state and local governments have refused to participate in the program, or tried to back out of it.

The most recent letter from ICE director John Morton to state governors explains that “ICE has determined that [a Memoranda of Agreement] is not required to activate or operate Secure Communities for any jurisdiction. Once a state or local law enforcement agency voluntarily 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.â€