Jim Kouri
Criminal alien removal from US communities modernized, say feds
By Jim Kouri
According to a report submitted to the 14,000-member National Association of Chiefs of Police, law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles County will benefit from a new initiative developed by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security that modernizes the process used to accurately identify and remove dangerous criminal aliens from the community.
The initiative, Secure Communities, is administered by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Secure Communities enables ICE to determine whether an individual arrested by a participating state or local law enforcement agency is a dangerous criminal alien and take the appropriate action to remove the individual from the community.
The Secure Communities biometric identification technology is now accessible to more than 40 state and local law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles County that use electronic booking machines maintained by the Los Angeles County Regional Identification System. The program has already been implemented in approximately 78 counties, including Ventura and San Diego, with nationwide coverage expected by the end of 2013.
Formerly as part of the booking process, arrestees' fingerprints were taken and checked for criminal history information against the DOJ biometric system maintained by the FBI. With the implementation of Secure Communities in Los Angeles County, the fingerprint information will now be simultaneously checked against both the FBI criminal history records and the biometrics-based immigration records maintained by the DHS.
If any fingerprints match those of someone in DHS' biometric system, the new automated process notifies ICE. ICE evaluates each case to determine the individual's immigration status and takes appropriate enforcement action after offenders complete their prison terms. Top priority is given to aliens who pose the greatest threat to public safety, such as those with prior convictions for major drug offenses, murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping.
"Secure Communities is a DHS initiative to more broadly manage and modernize the processes used to identify and ultimately remove dangerous criminal aliens from our communities," said Acting Secure Communities Executive Director Marc Rapp.
"Our goal with this effort is to use information sharing to prevent criminal aliens from being released back into the community, with little or no additional burden on our local law enforcement partners," he said.
Secure Communities enhances the ongoing joint efforts by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and ICE to identify criminal aliens in the county's jail system and process them for deportation. As a result of those efforts, more than 9,200 criminal aliens were turned over to ICE last year following their release from the custody of the sheriff's department.
"This is another tool to help identify those arrested for crimes," Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said. "It will help keep our streets safer, especially from those serious criminals who keep entering our country illegally."
According to NACOP's report, Secure Communities bolsters the ongoing joint efforts by ICE and participating law enforcement agencies in the United States. Eventually, with DOJ and other DHS component collaboration, ICE plans to expand this capability to all state and local law enforcement agencies throughout the nation.
Secure Communities is part of DHS's comprehensive plan to distribute technology that links local law enforcement agencies to both FBI and DHS biometric systems. DHS's US VISIT Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) holds biometrics-based immigration records, while the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) contains biometrics-based criminal records.
"US VISIT is proud to support ICE, helping provide decision makers with comprehensive, reliable information when and where they need it," said US VISIT Director Robert Mocny. "By enhancing the interoperability of DHS's 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," said Daniel D. Roberts, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division.
"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 its goals," he added.
© Jim Kouri
September 2, 2009
According to a report submitted to the 14,000-member National Association of Chiefs of Police, law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles County will benefit from a new initiative developed by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security that modernizes the process used to accurately identify and remove dangerous criminal aliens from the community.
The initiative, Secure Communities, is administered by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Secure Communities enables ICE to determine whether an individual arrested by a participating state or local law enforcement agency is a dangerous criminal alien and take the appropriate action to remove the individual from the community.
The Secure Communities biometric identification technology is now accessible to more than 40 state and local law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles County that use electronic booking machines maintained by the Los Angeles County Regional Identification System. The program has already been implemented in approximately 78 counties, including Ventura and San Diego, with nationwide coverage expected by the end of 2013.
Formerly as part of the booking process, arrestees' fingerprints were taken and checked for criminal history information against the DOJ biometric system maintained by the FBI. With the implementation of Secure Communities in Los Angeles County, the fingerprint information will now be simultaneously checked against both the FBI criminal history records and the biometrics-based immigration records maintained by the DHS.
If any fingerprints match those of someone in DHS' biometric system, the new automated process notifies ICE. ICE evaluates each case to determine the individual's immigration status and takes appropriate enforcement action after offenders complete their prison terms. Top priority is given to aliens who pose the greatest threat to public safety, such as those with prior convictions for major drug offenses, murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping.
"Secure Communities is a DHS initiative to more broadly manage and modernize the processes used to identify and ultimately remove dangerous criminal aliens from our communities," said Acting Secure Communities Executive Director Marc Rapp.
"Our goal with this effort is to use information sharing to prevent criminal aliens from being released back into the community, with little or no additional burden on our local law enforcement partners," he said.
Secure Communities enhances the ongoing joint efforts by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and ICE to identify criminal aliens in the county's jail system and process them for deportation. As a result of those efforts, more than 9,200 criminal aliens were turned over to ICE last year following their release from the custody of the sheriff's department.
"This is another tool to help identify those arrested for crimes," Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said. "It will help keep our streets safer, especially from those serious criminals who keep entering our country illegally."
According to NACOP's report, Secure Communities bolsters the ongoing joint efforts by ICE and participating law enforcement agencies in the United States. Eventually, with DOJ and other DHS component collaboration, ICE plans to expand this capability to all state and local law enforcement agencies throughout the nation.
Secure Communities is part of DHS's comprehensive plan to distribute technology that links local law enforcement agencies to both FBI and DHS biometric systems. DHS's US VISIT Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) holds biometrics-based immigration records, while the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) contains biometrics-based criminal records.
"US VISIT is proud to support ICE, helping provide decision makers with comprehensive, reliable information when and where they need it," said US VISIT Director Robert Mocny. "By enhancing the interoperability of DHS's 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," said Daniel D. Roberts, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division.
"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 its goals," he added.
© Jim Kouri
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