May 29, 2009

Program Implemented to Enhance Identification and Removal of San Diego County Criminal Aliens

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department became the first law enforcement agency in California to receive biometric identification technology based on immigration history about inmates via the new Secure Communities program. Administered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Secure Communities streamlines the process by which ICE determines if an individual in the prison system is a removable criminal alien. This new program enhances ongoing joint efforts by the San Diego County Sheriff's Department and ICE to identify criminal aliens in the San Diego County Jail system and process them for deportation. As a result of those efforts, more than 6,500 criminal aliens came into ICE custody last year following their release from the San Diego County Jail system.

Secure Communities is part of Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) comprehensive plan to distribute technology that connects local law enforcement agencies to both FBI and DHS biometric systems. The FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) contains biometrics-based criminal records while the DHS's US VISIT Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) holds biometrics-based immigration records. Secure Communities bolsters ongoing joint efforts by ICE and participating law enforcement agencies in the United States. Eventually, with Department of Justice and other DHS component collaboration, ICE plans to expand this capability to all state and local law enforcement agencies throughout the nation. Currently, there are approximately 50 counties nationwide participating in Secure Communities.

Under the program, the biometrics and fingerprints of every inmate in the three largest jails in San Diego County have been reviewed under the DHS’s biometric system for any immigration record. Prior to the implementation of the Secure Communities program, these fingerprints were only checked for criminal history information in the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) biometric system.

If there is a match in DHS's biometric system, the new automated process notifies ICE and the San Diego intake site submitting the fingerprints. ICE evaluates each case to determine the individual's immigration status and takes appropriate enforcement action after offenders complete their prison terms. The utmost 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 key facet of ICE's enforcement priority to identify, locate and remove criminal aliens, building on the success of the agency's Criminal Alien Program. In fiscal year 2008, ICE identified more than 221,000 potentially removable aliens incarcerated nationwide. This fiscal year, the agency anticipates spending more than $1 billion on such efforts, which in addition to Secure Communities, also includes expanding the agency's Criminal Alien Program and Fugitive Operations Program.