Thread: Secure Communities passes 1,000 jurisdictions nationwide

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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Secure Communities does not go far enough! The program allows DHS and local law enforcement agencies to completely ignore any illegal alien they don't consider a 'serious' criminal.

Originally Posted by Mickey

Secure Communities does not go far enough! The program allows DHS and local law enforcement agencies to completely ignore any illegal alien they don't consider a 'serious' criminal.

Among the records obtained are monthly data for Secure Communities from October 2009 through August 2010.

The records show that during that period, 41,929 people were identified through Secure Communities for deportation, as so-called "removals and returns."

Those people were divided into four categories based on criminal record.

A total of 9,667 -- about 23 percent -- were classified as Level 1 offenders: those convicted of "aggravated felonies such as murder, rape or sexual abuse of a minor."

Another 16,581 -- about 40 percent -- were labeled as Level 2 offenders: those convicted of any felony, or three or more misdemeanors.

A total of 4,621 -- about 11 percent -- were Level 3 offenders: those convicted of crimes punishable by less than one year in prison, typically misdemeanors.

And 11,060 people -- about 26 percent -- had no criminal record at all.

So ICE’s own data shows that, in the second year of a two-year program, 37 percent of the immigrants deported were either non-criminals or had been convicted of minor crimes . . .

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-1177561.html
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ICE Deports Immigrants During Booking Process
Jan. 2011
“With ICE’s wide net casted, civil rights violation may run unchecked by questionable policing efforts. Most of the immigrants that were swept-up arbitrarily, committed Level 1 (low-level) offenses or have no criminal histories at all,â€

Where are the statistics on illegals that are apprehended by local law enforcement but never picked up by ICE? The statistics you provided sound good, but they don't tell the whole story. Many of the so-called low level criminals are never picked up by ICE for deportation. Honestly, I won't be happy until every illegal that comes into contact with federal and local law enforcement are apprehended and deported.

Originally Posted by Mickey

Where are the statistics on illegals that are apprehended by local law enforcement but never picked up by ICE? The statistics you provided sound good, but they don't tell the whole story. Many of the so-called low level criminals are never picked up by ICE for deportation. Honestly, I won't be happy until every illegal that comes into contact with federal and local law enforcement are apprehended and deported.

We all want them all gone, but we have to deal with the reality that that isn't happening now and do everything we can to make it happen. I.C.E can only do what congress and the white house tells them to do. Just like every other job, if you don't do what you are told to do you get fired. That's the reality of it.

Originally Posted by Mickey

Where are the statistics on illegals that are apprehended by local law enforcement but never picked up by ICE? . . .

I haven't been able to find those numbers anywhere even though I spend a lot of time searching government websites for info that isn't in the media to share with everyone here.

I.C.E can only do what congress and the white house tells them to do.

While it's true that the U.S. Congress makes law, it is also a fact that President Obama and ICE frequently make policy that doesn't always follow the spirit of the law.