Thursday
Nov122009
Homeland Security Teams With ICE To Deport Criminal Aliens
Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 3:08PM
By Leah Valencia, University of New Mexico- Talk Radio News Service
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Secretary John Morton announced Thursday a new initiative to expand the ICE’s Secure Communities initiative, a program that uses biometrics, such as taking digital finger-print samplings, to identify and remove illegal immigrants that have committed crimes in the U.S.
Since its inception in October 2008, ICE's Secure Communities has identified 11,000 people who were convicted with Level 1 offenses or crimes such as murder or rape, of those 1,900 offenders have been deported from the United States.
“By the end of 2011 we project having a presence in every state,” Napolitano said. “By 2013, assuming Congress continues to fund our efforts, Secure Communities plans to expand nationwide and be available to every law enforcement agency in the country.”
Morton said the Secure Communities initiative, which was enacted one year ago, has identified more than 111,000 criminal illegal immigrants in local custody during the program's first year.
Critics say the Secure Communities initiative could be abused and result in racial profiling, explaining that a law abiding immigrant could be arrested with the sole intention of having their immigration status checked, at the discretion of a local officer.
“There is no distinction between citizen or non-citizen, every single person who is booked into a jail, gets their fingerprints checked and gets their immigration history checked,” Morton said, replying to the criticism. “This is not about, has not been and won’t be about conducting basic civil-immigration enforcement for non-criminal offenders.”
Morton noted that the goal of the initiative to identify and deport serious offenders that are dangerous, but under the initiative all illegal aliens that have committed a crime will be sent back to their country of origin.
“At the end of the day, if you are here unlawfully, not only are you deportable, but you certainly shouldn’t be committing crimes. We are going to identify those people and we are going to remove them.”
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Secretary John Morton announced Thursday a new initiative to expand the ICE’s Secure Communities initiative, a program that uses biometrics, such as taking digital finger-print samplings, to identify and remove illegal immigrants that have committed crimes in the U.S.
Since its inception in October 2008, ICE's Secure Communities has identified 11,000 people who were convicted with Level 1 offenses or crimes such as murder or rape, of those 1,900 offenders have been deported from the United States.
“By the end of 2011 we project having a presence in every state,” Napolitano said. “By 2013, assuming Congress continues to fund our efforts, Secure Communities plans to expand nationwide and be available to every law enforcement agency in the country.”
Morton said the Secure Communities initiative, which was enacted one year ago, has identified more than 111,000 criminal illegal immigrants in local custody during the program's first year.
Critics say the Secure Communities initiative could be abused and result in racial profiling, explaining that a law abiding immigrant could be arrested with the sole intention of having their immigration status checked, at the discretion of a local officer.
“There is no distinction between citizen or non-citizen, every single person who is booked into a jail, gets their fingerprints checked and gets their immigration history checked,” Morton said, replying to the criticism. “This is not about, has not been and won’t be about conducting basic civil-immigration enforcement for non-criminal offenders.”
Morton noted that the goal of the initiative to identify and deport serious offenders that are dangerous, but under the initiative all illegal aliens that have committed a crime will be sent back to their country of origin.
“At the end of the day, if you are here unlawfully, not only are you deportable, but you certainly shouldn’t be committing crimes. We are going to identify those people and we are going to remove them.”
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