Suit targets ICE’s Secure Communities - El Paso Times
EL PASO — The Center for Constitutional Rights filed suit Tuesday seeking records about the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Secure Communities program.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in New York City.
“Contrary to its name, this latest ICE program makes the public less safe,” said Sunita Patel, a lawyer for the center in New York. “There is no doubt that the program has and will continue to deepen fear and mistrust of the police in our communities.”
ICE Secure Communities partners in the region include the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and sheriff’s offices in Hudspeth, Doña Ana and Otero counties. The Texas Department of Public Safety is also a partner, according to the ICE Web site.
The partnerships enable local law-enforcement agencies to access databases, which include information on immigration status of people they detain.
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Under the program, fingerprints are checked against the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System and the Department of Homeland Security’s Automated Biometric Identification System-US-VISIT Program. A search can be done within hours.
“Since its inception in October 2008, Secure Communities has identified more than 18,000 (undocumented immigrants) charged with or convicted of level 1 crimes, such as murder, rape and kidnapping — 4,000 of whom have already been removed from the United States,” Matt Chandler, Department of Homeland Security spokesman in Washington, said Tuesday.
“Congress, DHS and ICE recognize that identifying and removing criminal aliens from the United States is a priority and essential to our nation’s security. ICE’s Secure Communities strategy is leading the agency’s efforts to improve and modernize the identification and removal of criminal aliens from the United States. This FOIA request is the subject of a lawsuit and we will release any information as appropriate through the litigation process.”
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