Thread: ICE Caving on Secure Communities

ICE Caving on Secure Communities
By Jessica Vaughan, September 2, 2010

The San Francisco Chronicle reported today that ICE is going all wobbly in defending Secure Communities, its marquee program for identifying and removing criminal aliens.
http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/factsheets/s ... nities.htm

Secure Communities ought to be one of the most uncontroversial enforcement programs ever launched. It provides for the fingerprints of all those booked into county jails to be screened against immigration databases as part of the same process by which they are screened against other criminal history databases. Launched officially in 2008, so far it has found nearly 300,000 criminal aliens, including 43,000 very serious offenders. It is in more than 500 counties nationwide. Because it is based on fingerprints, criminal aliens cannot escape detection by using aliases or by claiming U.S. citizenship. It eliminates the need for local officers to make separate, manual requests to check an inmate's immigration status, and provides for automatic notification to the local ICE office, so they can take custody of the criminal aliens and remove them at the appropriate time. There is no cost and no additional work for the local agencies. Everyone is screened, so there is no possibility of discrimination.

But the sheriff of San Francisco, Michael Hennessey, wants no part of it. He claims it will interfere with San Francisco's infamous sanctuary policy. And ICE appears ready to defer and let him make that call. (This is in ironic contrast to ICE's attitude toward the 287(g) jurisdictions, who despite the training and resources they have invested in trying to help ICE, are allowed no such discretion, and the administration’s insistence with respect to Arizona’s SB 1070, that all matters of immigration law enforcement are up to the feds.)

ICE has adopted this position even though under federal law and the system that has been created for the collection and dissemination of arrest and criminal histories, it is the sole responsibility of the Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS), which falls under the FBI and Department of Justice, to decide how the information it collects and maintains for the benefit of all will be used and distributed. Once CJIS decides that immigration databases will become a part of criminal history screenings, a jurisdiction supposedly cannot opt out of that without risking disciplinary action or jeopardizing its ability to use CJIS [see 42 U.S.C. 14615].
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/ ... -000-.html

Instead of insisting on its right (and need) to obtain this information, which is in obvious support of its stated primary mission to remove criminal aliens, ICE is choosing to let local agencies thumb their nose at them. And it's not just San Francisco. Cook County, Ill. (home of Chicago), and Washington, D.C., are also considering opting out. In that case, why should New York City, Baltimore, or Minneapolis be bothered?

By declining to assert its authority to receive criminal fingerprints and by allowing jurisdictions to just say no to handing over criminal aliens, ICE is undermining its own mission and the ultimate effectiveness of the Secure Communities program. This would be just another laughable example of this administration's avoidance of immigration law enforcement if criminal aliens weren't such a genuine problem for public safety.

http://www.cis.org/vaughan/caving-on-secure-communities

All links within the original are available at the source link above.

The San Francisco Chronicle article also is printed below.

Immigration agency ponders S.F. opt-out request
Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer

San Francisco Chronicle September 2, 2010 04:00 AM
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U.S. immigration officials said Wednesday they will consider San Francisco's request to opt out of the controversial Secure Communities program that makes it easier for federal authorities to track down and deport undocumented immigrants.

Until now, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, known as ICE, has rebuffed San Francisco's contention that participation in the program is voluntary. San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey, a vocal opponent of the program, has said repeatedly that as head of the city's jail system he does not want to participate.

He fired off his latest letter to the head of the Secure Communities program Wednesday - a repeat of the same request he made Tuesday.

Federal authorities agreed Wednesday to review Hennessey's request and convene a meeting with involved agencies, including the California Department of Justice that under Attorney General Jerry Brown has been supportive of Secure Communities and opposed to Hennessey's requested exemption.

"Based upon those discussions, ICE and its partners will examine the options and seek a feasible resolution, which may include changing the jurisdiction's activation status," said ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice.

She added that no other jurisdiction that has implemented Secure Communities has asked to opt out of the program.

Hennessey said he won't hold his breath that change will be forthcoming.

"I do not believe that the federal and state governments will find a way to make that happen," he said.

State backs program
He may be right, because the federal government has deferred to the state attorney general's office on implementation of Secure Communities in California. "Our position has not changed," said Brown spokeswoman Christine Gasparac. Brown is running as the Democratic nominee for governor.

Hennessey, backed by a Board of Supervisors' majority, believes that Secure Communities conflicts with San Francisco's sanctuary city law, which limits how city workers can aid federal immigration officials.

Sharing fingerprints with other agencies is not new in San Francisco. The Sheriff's Department long has been providing inmates' prints to the FBI and the state Department of Justice to check for matches in criminal databases. And previously, the Sheriff's Department reported to federal immigration authorities only those in its custody who were arrested on felony charges and whose immigration status couldn't be verified.

All prints reviewed

Secure Communities requires that the fingerprints of anyone booked, including those for minor offenses, are sent automatically to federal immigration authorities for review. If the fingerprints match those of someone already in a database maintained by the Department of Homeland Security on an immigration matter, ICE is alerted and deportation proceedings may be triggered.

Secure Communities, which is being phased in nationwide, is now operational in nearly 600 jurisdictions across 30 states. The program was activated in San Francisco in June. Since then, ICE has taken into custody 89 people who could face deportation, including 25 people with prior convictions for serious or violent offenses, Kice said.

"Secure Communities continues to be a vital tool for identifying potentially removable criminal aliens who've come into local law enforcement custody and expediting their removal from the United States," Kice said. "It's a major step forward in ICE's ongoing efforts to work with local law enforcement to prevent potentially dangerous criminal aliens from being released to our streets."

Hennessey said he has been - and still is - on board with the policy to report people arrested for violent crimes and other serious felonies. However, he and immigrant rights groups who are trying to overturn or amend Secure Communities don't want local governments to be in the business of helping deport undocumented residents detained for minor offenses.

E-mail Rachel Gordon at rgordon@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... .DTL&tsp=1