Thread: San Diego County to take part in immigration fingerprinting

San Diego County to take part in immigration fingerprint check

By Leslie Berestein
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

5:45 p.m. November 11, 2008

SAN DIEGO – San Diego County is set to participate in a new federal initiative that gives local law enforcement the ability to use fingerprints to check the immigration history and status of people who land in county jails.

The federally funded U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement program was announced Tuesday by agency officials during the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference at the San Diego Convention Center.

According to ICE, technology will be distributed to participating local agencies nationwide that allows them to check fingerprints against not only the FBI criminal database, but also against the database of the Department of Homeland Security, which contains information on previous deportations and other immigration data.

The emphasis is on locating and deporting people with a criminal history, said David Venturella, executive director of ICE's Secure Communities Program, which seeks to identify deportable individuals with criminal records.

However, officers will also be able to learn if a person is in the country legally, and notify immigration authorities if not.

“We are certainly projecting an increase in the number of people we encounter, and therefore a result in more people being detained and removed,â€

[quote] “This innocent guy, had he been undocumented, would have been transferred over to immigration under this new operation.â€

"Venturella said the database program was piloted in seven counties around the country. San Diego County is one of 45 additional counties that plan to participate by February."

If anyone has a list of the 7 counties or the additional 45 counties please post it here so we can watch those counties for increases in deportations.

This article mentions 8 counties involved:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-137873.html

RELATED

Immigration holds placed on 35,000 more SoCal inmates

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-137366.html

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/stat ... jails.html

[quote]“This innocent guy, had he been undocumented, would have been transferred over to immigration under this new operation.â€

Originally Posted by jean

This article mentions 8 counties involved:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-137873.html

Dallas County and Wake County in North Carolina are scheduled to begin using the program Wednesday. Gaston, Buncombe and Henderson counties in North Carolina will begin using it by next week.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office in Texas and Suffolk County in Massachusetts began using the program recently.

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-3721--0-0.html

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

Police get new technology with help from Qualcomm

UNION-TRIBUNE

7:18 a.m. November 12, 2008

SAN DIEGO: The Police Department is getting two high-tech upgrades, with the help of a $1 million contribution from Qualcomm Inc. that was announced yesterday.

Part of the money is being used to pay for 400 PDAs, or personal digital assistants, for officers. The other upgrade is an Automated Vehicle Locator system, enabling dispatchers to immediately find every police patrol unit in service.
Both sets of equipment already are in police hands.

The donation actually went to the San Diego Police Foundation, which purchased the technology for the department.

William Maheu, senior director of business development for Qualcomm, said the department will issue 400 Palm Treo 700 “smartphonesâ€