Editorial: Illegal immigration program has merit
Published: Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Yet another effort to address illegal immigration is being surrounded by controversy.

The federal government is rapidly expanding a program to identify illegal immigrants using fingerprints from arrests, drawing opposition from authorities and advocates who argue the initiative amounts to an excessive dragnet, according to The Associated Press.

The program, called Secure Communities, has received less attention than Arizona's new immigration law, but it may end up having a bigger impact because of its potential to round up and deport so many illegal immigrants nationwide.

Under the program, the fingerprints of everyone who is booked into jail for any crime are run against FBI criminal history records and Department of Homeland Security immigration records to determine who is in the country illegally and whether they've been arrested previously. Most jurisdictions are not included in the program, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been expanding the initiative.

Since 2007, 467 jurisdictions in 26 states have joined. ICE has said it plans to have every jail in the country by 2013.

Because everyone arrested would be screened, the program could easily deport more people than Arizona's new law, said Sunita Patel, an attorney who filed a lawsuit in New York against the federal government on behalf of a group worried about the program. Patel said that because illegal immigrants could be referred to ICE at the point of arrest, even before a conviction, the program can create an incentive for profiling and create a pipeline to deport more people.

Supporters of the program argue it's helping identify dangerous criminals who would otherwise go undetected. Since Oct. 27, 2008, through the end of May, almost 2.6 million people have been screened with Secure Communities. Of those, almost 35,000 were identified as illegal immigrants previously arrested or convicted for the most serious crimes, including murder and rape, according to ICE. More than 205,000 who were identified as illegal immigrants had arrest record for less serious crimes.

In Ohio, Butler County Sheriff Rick Jones praised the program, saying it helps solve the problem police often have of not knowing whether someone they arrested has a criminal history and is in the country illegally.

While we understand that some are concerned about the negative impact this program may have, we feel this program has merit for the simple reason Jones mentioned.

We ultimately stand by what we've said all along about addressing illegal immigration, which is that for far too long the federal government has put off doing so in a meaningful way. In that vein, ICE created Secure Communities after Congress directed the agency to improve the way it identifies and deports illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds.

We suspect that few — if any — actions taken to identify and deport illegal immigrants will go over well with those opposed to such efforts, but the bottom line remains that such immigrants are breaking the law by being within our country's borders.

At some point, it must be expected that we as a nation will take steps to protect our borders and enforce our laws — regardless of how unpopular it might be to some.

We certainly don't wish to see legal immigrants profiled or harassed, but neither do we want to see the issue of illegal immigration become more divisive or grow further out of control. Unless it's proven that this program is inherently flawed or doesn't accomplish its goal effectively, we support ICE in implementing it throughout the rest of the country.

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