Thread: PA-3 on Council protest fingerprint-sharing policy

Posted on Fri, Aug. 21, 2009


3 on Council protest fingerprint-sharing policy
By DAVE DAVIES


daviesd@phillynews.com

Three City Council members joined immigration activists yesterday in condemning a new police practice of sharing with immigration authorities the fingerprints of immigrants arrested in Philadelphia.

Last month, the city began sharing prints as part of the Secure Communities program promoted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.

City Councilman Jim Kenney said the program will only increase the likelihood that immigrants will refuse to cooperate with police.

"If you're a witness to a crime, if you're a victim of a crime, if you're in a car accident, you should not fear calling 9-1-1 and having the police come and take a report from you," Kenney said. "This makes people afraid of our police."

Kenney was joined at a news conference by Council members Maria Quinones Sanchez and Curtis Jones, and by representatives of several community and immigration-rights organizations.

ICE spokesman Mark Medvesky said the program is in place in 50 counties across the country, including Philadelphia, Montgomery and Bucks counties.

Officials hope to make it nationwide over the next 3 1/2 years. Medvesky said the goal is to "find the most serious criminal aliens and remove them [from the country] first."

Fingerprints of people arrested have long been shared with the State Police, which passes them along to the FBI. Under the new program, the FBI sends the prints to immigration officials, who can investigate and take enforcement action if a suspect is not legally in the U.S.

Local police departments are not required to participate in the program, Medvesky said.

Philadelphia police officials referred questions to Mayor Nutter's office, where spokesman Doug Oliver said the administration is committed to the program.

Oliver said he's aware of criticism that the program would deter immigrants from reporting crimes, which may make them more vulnerable to crime.

"Only individuals being charged with a crime would be fingerprinted, and because witnesses and victims would not be fingerprinted, we don't feel there will be a chilling effect on people's willingness to come to the police," Oliver said.

Regan Cooper, executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition, said that in domestic disputes, a battering victim might initially be arrested as police try to sort out confusing events, and that under the program someone who had committed no crime could be deported.

Oliver said Nutter hasn't heard from Council members on the issue. Kenney said he and others would be contacting the mayor.


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