Program to find criminal illegal immigrants hampered in Colo. by pricey equipment

By Nancy Lofholm
The Denver Post
Posted: 07/06/2011 01:00:00 AM MDTUpdated: 07/06/2011 10:13:50 AM MDT

GRAND JUNCTION — Summit County Sheriff John Minor is an advocate of the Secure Communities program that he says will help to quickly identify the undocumented inmates in his jail. But Minor, along with two dozen other sheriffs in Colorado, can't afford the pricey equipment needed to make the program work as planned.

While political arguments rage over whether the Secure Communities program is a heavy-handed way to force local jurisdictions to help ferret out criminal illegal immigrants or whether it is the best way to ensure undocumented criminals are deported or incarcerated, Colorado sheriffs are struggling with another issue — how to pay for it.

"We're not happy campers," said Don Christensen , director of the County Sheriffs of Colorado organization.

The lack of available funding is causing consternation around the state as Colorado moves toward fully implementing Secure Communities by 2013 as required under a memorandum of agreement with federal immigration authorities. Three Front Range counties — Denver, Arapahoe and El Paso — are serving as pilot programs to work out any glitches in a system designed to pass digitally scanned fingerprints of suspected illegal immigrant arrestees from local jurisdictions to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and on to the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

But 39 percent of the state's 64 counties aren't equipped to do that. They don't have functional digital electronic scanners that are a key to an integrated local, state and federal program. The cost to each county to purchase updated equipment is an estimated $50,000, according to Christensen.

This has created a dilemma for law enforcement agencies that are already having to cut programs and lay off employees. Some are limping by with outdated equipment such as breathalyzers and security cameras. As their now-outdated 7-year-old fingerprint scanners are giving out, some counties including Summit have had to revert to the error-ridden "ink-and-roll" fingerprints. These must be mailed to the CBI and can take weeks to identify.

"Some of these laws like Secure Communities are great and the processes are awesome, but when the costs get driven down to the bottom level, it is very frustrating," Minor said.

The sheriffs association and the CBI sought federal funding for new scanners this year but received only $325,000 of the $2.4 million requested. Meanwhile, the federal government made money available for ICE to add more beds in detention centers and more agents.

The problem is hitting sheriffs now because about seven years ago, sheriffs offices in Colorado were able to use federal grant money to purchase fingerprint scanners that enabled them to move beyond the ink-and-roll method. But Christensen said as those scanners reach the end of their life span, repairs are too costly. Minor paid $3,000 simply to have his broken machine examined. Replacement parts aren't available. And the cost of the new systems has more than quadrupled.

"We're not against Secure Communities. We're very supportive of it," Christensen said. "But some of these counties are just dead in the water. The technology has failed us."

ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok counters that Secure Communities can be implemented without the technology. He said counties can participate even if they are still relying on the older inked form of fingerprint gathering.

But it won't work quickly. Counties without scanners will have to mail paper prints to the CBI. Some sheriffs say that undermines the purpose of Secure Communities — to make sure serious illegal immigrant criminals don't land back on the streets. Sheriffs say inmates may bond out and disappear before their fingerprints can be checked using the older technologies.

Lance Clem, CBI spokesman, noted there is a very high rejection rate for inked fingerprints at the CBI, which slows the process even more.

Clem said the CBI is going to try to squeeze as many digital scanners out of the reduced federal grant money as possible. He said the agency is wrangling with several vendors to try to bring the costs down and is also diverting the dollars earmarked for administration into buying more equipment.

Like Rusnok, Clem said the lack of equipment won't stop or delay the program in Colorado even though Secure Communities is designed to work with the newer digital-scanning technology.

"Secure Communities won't be stopped by the lack of equipment," Clem said. "But to make it work the way it was planned, it will be necessary."

Nancy Lofholm: 970-256-1957 or nlofholm@denverpost.com

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_18415336