Secure Communities passes 1,000 jurisdictions nationwide

Thu, 2011-02-03 09:12 AM
By: Mark Rockwell GSN Magazine (Government Security News)

In the last few weeks of January, the number of local jurisdictions activated under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s biometric information sharing program quietly topped 1,000 nationwide.

ICE activated its Secure Communities electronic fingerprint information sharing capabilities in more than a dozen jurisdictions in the opening weeks of 2011, pushing the total to 1,008.

The most recent additions include six northern California counties, two Ohio counties and two Maryland counties that the agency announced Feb. 1. ICE said it is now using the capabilities in 38 states.

The recent California additions included Inyo, Amador, Calaveras, Glenn, Modoc and San Benito counties. It added Ashtabula and Jefferson counties in Ohio and Dorchester and Talbot counties in Maryland.

The program has been controversial. Some jurisdictions in California and Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia, questioned the system’s affects on crime reporting. They said it might suppress reports of crimes from undocumented immigrant communities. They have also questioned some of the costs associated with housing individuals identified under the program who await custody by ICE. Counties in California and Virginia have repeatedly asked for clarification from the Department of Homeland Security about whether they can opt-out of the program.

ICE is now using the capability in 52 California jurisdictions; nine Maryland jurisdictions, including Prince George's, Frederick, Queen Anne's, Saint Mary's, Baltimore County, Carroll and Anne Arundel counties; and 16 Ohio jurisdictions, according to the agency. ICE plans to have nationwide capabilities by 2013.

The Secure Communities information-sharing capabilities allow federal immigration officials use biometrics to identify aliens, both lawfully and unlawfully present in the United States, who are booked into local law enforcement's custody for a crime.

Previously, biometrics–fingerprints–taken of individuals charged with a crime and booked into custody were checked for criminal history information against the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS). Now, through enhanced information sharing between DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), biometrics submitted through the state to the FBI are automatically checked against both the FBI criminal history records in IAFIS and the biometrics–based immigration records in DHS's Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT).

If fingerprints match those of someone in DHS' biometric system, the new automated process notifies ICE, said the agency. Each case to determine the individual's immigration status and takes appropriate enforcement action, it said. This includes aliens who are in lawful status and those who are present without lawful authority. Once identified through fingerprint matching, ICE will respond with a priority placed on aliens convicted of the most serious crimes first–such as those with convictions for major drug offenses, murder, rape and kidnapping.

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