Secure Communities

Secure Communities

Through the Secure Communities strategy, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) improves public safety every day by transforming the way criminal aliens are identified and removed from the United States. This strategy leverages an existing information sharing capability between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to quickly and accurately identify aliens who are arrested for a crime and booked into local law enforcement custody. With this capability, the fingerprints of everyone arrested and booked are not only checked against FBI criminal history records, but they are also checked against DHS immigration records. If fingerprints match DHS records, ICE determines if immigration enforcement action is required, considering the immigration status of the alien, the severity of the crime and the alien's criminal history. Secure Communities also helps ICE maximize and prioritize its resources to ensure that the right people, processes and infrastructure are in place to accommodate the increased number of criminal aliens being identified and removed.

Secure Communities modernizes the identification and removal processes by:

Using fingerprint-based biometric identification technology, Prioritizing resources toward the greatest threats, and Sharing information between law enforcement partners.

287g Bill

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the largest investigative agency in the Department of Homeland Security, enforces federal immigration laws as part of its homeland security mission. ICE works closely with federal, state and local law enforcement partners in this mission.

The 287(g) program, one of ICE’s top partnership initiatives, allows a state and local law enforcement entity to enter into a partnership with ICE, under a joint Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). The state or local entity receives delegated authority for immigration enforcement within their jurisdictions.

Work site enforcement:

Effective worksite enforcement plays an important role in the fight against illegal immigration. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has developed a comprehensive worksite enforcement strategy that promotes national security, protects critical infrastructure and targets employers who violate employment laws or engage in abuse or exploitation of workers.

An effective worksite enforcement strategy must address both employers who knowingly hire illegal workers, as well as the workers themselves. In worksite cases, ICE investigators adhere to high investigative standards, including the following:

ICE will look for evidence of the mistreatment of workers, along with evidence of trafficking, smuggling, harboring, visa fraud, identification document fraud, money laundering and other such criminal conduct. ICE will obtain indictments, criminal arrests or search warrants, or a commitment from a U.S. Attorney's Office to prosecute the targeted employer before arresting employees for civil immigration violations at a worksite.

The Law Enforcement Support Center

(LESC) is a national enforcement operations facility administered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the largest investigative agency in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The LESC is a single national point of contact that provides timely customs information and immigration status and identity information and real-time assistance to local, state and federal law enforcement agencies on aliens suspected, arrested or convicted of criminal activity.

Located in Williston, Vt., the LESC operates around the clock – 365 days a year. State and local law enforcement officers seeking information about aliens are the primary users of the LESC.

The LESC also receives queries from federal, state and local correctional and court systems seeking information about individuals in custody or encountered elsewhere in the criminal justice system. Law enforcement officers have immediate access to alien records entered with the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and immigration information from every alien file maintained by DHS— approximately 100 million records—by using the formatted Immigration Alien Query (IAQ) screen incorporated within each state's law enforcement communications system. LESC Services In addition to providing immigration and identity information on suspected criminal aliens, the LESC offers other vital services, including:

National Crime Information Center

(NCIC)—The LESC administers and controls all ICE criminal and administrative records in this nationwide law enforcement consortium and criminal database. There are now over 277,000 ICE records in NCIC. Communications Center—The LESC operates a communications center that provides NCIC Hit Confirmations (within 10 minutes) to law enforcement agencies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In addition, the command center agents and officers place immigration detainers on aliens wanted by ICE. The command center also provides assistance on immigration alien queries, instant immigration status checks for ICE Officers, and answers the dedicated law enforcement phone lines. Other services provided by the command center include contacting ICE duty agents for ICE field responses, and handles ICEPIC/LEISS requests for information. A public affairs unit is also available to handle media calls during normal business hours. Special Response Tasks—The LESC is the central point of contact for a number of special information requests. For example, The LESC conducts “Brady checks” for the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), screening the immigration status of foreign-born, non-citizen firearm permit applicants before authorizing purchase or possession of a weapon. Since March 2003, the LESC has performed 498,741 Brady checks for the FBI. The LESC also provides daily assistance to the U.S. Secret Service by assisting in the screening of persons seeking to visit or work on the White House grounds. The LESC has helped USSS screen 377,944 individuals over the last seven fiscal years. Law Enforcement Training—To help the law enforcement community make better use of information the LESC provides, the center offers an on-site training and outreach program that provides instruction on how to access the LESC information and instruction on ICE's role and responsibilities. ICE 287(g) training includes an LESC training module presented by an LESC officer. Significant Accomplishments for FY 2010 The number of requests for information sent to the LESC increased from 4,000 in FY 1996 to 807,106 in FY 2008, to 1,133,130 in FY 2010 setting a new record for assistance to other law enforcement agencies. During FY 2008, special agents at the LESC placed 16,423 detainers on foreign nationals wanted by ICE for criminal and immigration violations. This number increased in FY 2010 to 20,446. The records of more than 270,000 previously deported aggravated felons, immigration fugitives and wanted criminals are now in the NCIC system. Special agents at the LESC confirmed 6,150 NCIC hits during FY 2010. Some LESC accomplishments since DHS and ICE were created in March 2003 include:

Over the past seven fiscal years, the LESC has responded to a combined total of 5,737,803 electronic queries. In FY 2010, the LESC received queries from more than 13,000 distinct ORIs (electronic addresses) representing law enforcement agencies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, two U.S. territories, and Canada. Since November 2004, the LESC has received more than 946,907 telephone calls on its dedicated law enforcement lines from law enforcement officers around the country seeking ICE information or assistance. The ICE special agents assigned to the LESC have lodged more than 121,734 ICE immigration detainers against criminal and wanted aliens over the last seven fiscal years. Of those, at least 51,837 detainers were placed on criminals or fugitives who were NCIC hits. Viable leads are sent electronically to ICE field offices for action or investigation within 24 to 48 hours of the call.

Comment:

If you know any undocumented Irish, do them a really big favor and share this with them. Make no mistake about it, it is not only persons who are arrested for serious crimes that can feel the wrath of ICE. Young undocumented Irish nationals who might have a "few beers" with their friends and are foolish enough to get behind the wheel of a car and get stopped,, or maybe get into a bit of an argument that winds up in fisticuffs where the police get involved, could very well be apprehended, detained, and eventually deported. And it is getting worse, the immigration authorities mean business. Remember, forewarned is forearmed!

Jack Meehan,

Past National President Ancient Order of Hibernians in America