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Posted November 14, 2009
                     
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National

                    
U.S. Identifies 111,000 Immigrants With Criminal Records
                                             

By JULIA PRESTON
                                               
Federal authorities have identified more than 111,000 immigrants with criminal records being held in local jails, during the first year of a program that seeks to deport immigrants who have committed serious crimes.

Among the immigrants identified through the program, known as Secure Communities, more than 11,000 had been charged with or convicted of the most serious crimes, including murder and rape, domestic security officials said Thursday. About 1,900 of those have been deported.

At a news conference in Washington, John Morton, the top official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, called the program “the future of immigration enforcement,” because, he said, it “focuses our resources on identifying and removing the most serious criminal offenders first and foremost.”

About 100,000 of the detained immigrants identified through the system had been convicted of less serious crimes, ranging from burglary to traffic offenses, the officials said. Of those, more than 14,000 have been deported.

Obama administration officials have worked to distinguish their immigration enforcement strategy from the Bush administration’s, which centered on high-profile factory raids and searches in communities for immigration fugitives.

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A federal program finds 111,000 detained immigrants.

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The Bush operations drew an outcry from immigrant advocates, who said they led to racial profiling, especially of Latinos, and ensnared many immigrants who lacked legal status but had not committed crimes.

Obama administration officials said Secure Communities, which was started under President George W. Bush but rapidly expanded under President Obama, is a relatively low-cost way for the authorities to concentrate resources on deporting the most dangerous immigrants.

Immigration lawyers remain skeptical, saying the program lumps together relatively minor offenses with serious felonies. They said the program encouraged the local police to arrest anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant.

“All you have to do is get them in jail and their immigration status can be checked,” said Joan Friedland, immigration policy director at the National Immigration Law Center, an immigrant advocacy group. Under the program, which started in October 2008 in Houston, the fingerprints of every person booked into jail by the local authorities — including legal and illegal immigrants and United States citizens — are checked against federal immigration databases as well as criminal databases.

When the check produces a match showing both an immigration record and a criminal one, ICE agents can place a hold to ensure the immigrant will remain in custody.

Under an agreement with agencies in the program, ICE agents must take action within 48 hours to detain or initiate deportation proceedings against the most serious offenders. Legal immigrants are subject to deportation if they are convicted of certain crimes, while illegal immigrants can be deported even if they have committed no crime.

In the first year, 95 cities or counties in 11 states have joined the program. The police department of Washington, D.C., announced on Thursday that it would join. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said at the news conference that she hoped the program would expand to the whole country by 2013.

Most immigrants identified in the program remain in this country because the immigration authorities generally allow criminal prosecutions and sentences to run their course before they carry out deportations.

The database checks still have flaws, lawyers said. According to ICE figures, about 5,880 people identified through the program turned out to be United States citizens.

Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company. Reprinted from The New York Times, National, of Friday, November 13, 2009.
                                               

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