Thread: Wake deputies get access to immigration records

Wake deputies get access to immigration records
Posted: Today at 2:53 p.m.
Updated: 30 minutes ago
The Wake County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday was given full access to a database that will help deputies tell whether a person booked for a crime is an illegal immigrant.

The process, which uses an individual’s fingerprints, automatically checks the criminal and immigration history of all individuals booked, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Under the current system, fingerprints have been checked against the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System to obtain information about a person’s criminal history. The new technology will simultaneously check the Automated Biometric Identification System, which contains immigration records, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in announcing the system was available to Wake deputies.

If a person’s fingerprints match those of a non-U.S. citizen, the information will automatically be sent to ICE’s Law Enforcement Support Center, where staff will then evaluate the case and take action, if needed, officials said.

Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison said he looks forward to using the technology at the Wake County Detention Center, which processes 35,000 people each year.

“If there were some slipping through the cracks, we're hoping now that we'll be able to pick those people up. We don't know that there were, but now we have this equipment in place now that we can tell pretty quickly if they are lying to us,â€

If the program is introduced nationwide officials said it would cost about $3 billion annually and result in the deportation of 700,000 people a year. Sounds like a good deal

We had the technology to do this over 10 years ago.....

Hope it goes national it costs way less than to take care of em!

Originally Posted by 93camaro

We had the technology to do this over 10 years ago..... :roll:

Hope it goes national it costs way less than to take care of em!

It's going nationwide next year according to this I.C.E. News Release:

I.C.E. News Release
November 12, 2008

Wake County Sheriff's Office first of four sites in North Carolina to receive full interoperability technology to help identify criminal aliens
Departments of Homeland Security and Justice providing more identity information to local officers about non U.S. citizen criminal arrests

Raleigh, N.C. - Wake County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday became the first of four law enforcement agencies in North Carolina to receive new database link that will automatically check the criminal and immigration history of all individuals booked into the jail. This new process provides local officers as much information available about individuals they arrest and help to more efficiently identify criminal aliens for potential removal.

The Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Justice (DOJ) have made enhancements to their respective biometric systems-the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) and the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS)-to improve the interoperability of the two systems and enable this new information sharing process. IDENT and IAFIS interoperability is the cornerstone of Secure Communities, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE's) comprehensive plan to identify and remove criminal aliens from local communities. In collaboration with DOJ and other DHS components, ICE plans to expand this capability to more than 50 state and local law enforcement agencies throughout the nation by next spring.

"Interoperability will create a virtual ICE presence at every local jail, allowing us to identify and ultimately remove dangerous incarcerated criminal aliens from our communities," said Julie L. Myers, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for ICE. "Using this technology, we will build upon the remarkable success we have had working with state and local law enforcement and we will revolutionize the process of identifying criminal aliens in custody."

"US VISIT's innovative use of biometrics is all about providing comprehensive, reliable information to decision makers when and where they need it," said US VISIT Director Robert Mocny. "By enhancing the interoperability of DHS' and the FBI's biometric systems, we are able to give federal, state and local decision makers information that helps them better protect our communities and our nation."

"Under this plan, 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. 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 their goals," said FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Assistant Director Tom Bush.

Sheriff Donnie Harrison noted that the Wake County Jail processes over 35,000 people each year. "With this new technology," Sheriff Harrison said, "we may find more criminals or criminal aliens who otherwise could have slipped through the cracks."

As part of the routine booking process at most detention centers, an individual's fingerprints are checked against IAFIS to obtain information about the detainee's criminal history. The new process will simultaneously check the detainee's fingerprints against the full IDENT system which holds biometrics based immigration records. If the individual's fingerprints match those of a non U.S. citizen, the new automated process notifies ICE's Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC) for officials to evaluate the case and take appropriate action when necessary. Additionally, the local law enforcement agency will receive biographic identification information about any non U.S. citizen they arrest for criminal charges. Law enforcement officers can use this information to verify the identity of the person they have arrested.

Wake, Gaston, Buncombe, and Henderson county sheriffs' offices are four of the seven sites nationwide that have participated in a pilot version of interoperability between the DHS and DOJ databases. Under the pilot, these sites received limited immigration history information. The remaining three North Carolina counties are scheduled to begin receiving full immigration history information beginning next week.

Local law enforcement officials are not permitted to take action against immigration violators unless trained and authorized by DHS. Wake, Gaston, and Henderson county sheriffs' offices have signed 287(g) agreements with ICE which authorizes their trained officers to enforce immigration law under ICE supervision. Under the 287(g) program the trained officers already have access to the DHS databases; however officers have to run fingerprints separately on the IAFIS and IDENT systems. This new interoperable system will streamline the process for jail officers and fully check both the criminal history and the immigration records of everyone processed into the jail. Currently only those referred to officers with immigration enforcement authority have their immigration histories checked.

DHS' ICE and US-VISIT program are working with the FBI's CJIS division to make this program possible. US VISIT manages the IDENT database, and CJIS manages the IAFIS database. ICE's LESC serves as a national enforcement operations center by providing timely immigration status and identity information to local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies on aliens suspected, arrested, or convicted of criminal activity.

For more information, please go to www.dhs.gov or www.fbi.gov.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

Last Modified: Wednesday, November 12, 2008
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0811/081112raleigh.htm

“If you're not Latino chances are you're not going to get brought into a police station."

Chances are, if you are an illegal alien, you are Latino.