Fingerprint-sharing deportation program altered

The Secure Communities program, which was intended to identify and deport convicted felons, wound up also ensnaring minor offenders, victims of domestic abuse and other crimes, witnesses to crimes, and people who were arrested but not convicted of offenses.

In response, U.S. Homeland Security officials announced Friday that the department has issued new guidelines in an effort to stop immigration officers from deporting people who were arrested while reporting a crime, or who were witnesses in a potential criminal investigation or trial. The guidelines also give prosecutors more discretion on whom to deport.

The White House, which has fended off Republican charges that it is too lax on immigration enforcement, also has been attacked in recent months by usual political allies - Democratic governors of Massachusetts, New York and President Obama's home state of Illinois, as well as some congressional Democrats.

A delegation of California members of Congress last week called on Gov. Jerry Brown to denounce the program.

Brown supported Secure Communities when he was state attorney general, but he has not weighed in since he became governor.

At issue is a part of the program that automatically notifies U.S. immigration authorities when a local police or sheriff's department submits a routine request for a criminal background check to the FBI fingerprint database.

The FBI shares the prints with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and agency officers then may approach the local jail to begin removal proceedings.

The fingerprint-checking mechanism has helped the Obama administration find and deport a growing number of illegal immigrants with criminal records or multiple immigration violations. It was the major reason behind a 70 percent increase in deportations of convicted criminals in two years - from 114,415 people deported in 2008 to 195,722 in 2010.

The Obama administration has argued that Secure Communities has allowed ICE to focus on deporting people who are in the country illegally who have criminal records and who pose a threat to public safety.

From the program's inception in the fall of 2008 through March this year, 55 percent of those flagged for deportation nationwide have either committed misdemeanors and infractions or been arrested but not subsequently convicted, ICE data show. Only 30 percent of those flagged for deportation have been serious violent offenders - including murderers and rapists - that the program seeks to prioritize.

In the past two months, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn have either declined to enter the Secure Communities program or suspended their state's participation. They cited concerns that the fingerprint sharing may deter immigrants from cooperating with state and local police for fear of being ultimately deported.

The Los Angeles and Oakland city councils have passed resolutions in support of a pending California state bill that would apply the program only to illegal immigrants convicted of felonies and make participation optional, among other reforms.

"We are listening to those concerns and addressing them head-on today," John Morton, director of ICE, told reporters in a conference call Friday.

Under the new guidelines, he said, ICE officers will be instructed not to deport individuals who are victims of a crime or witnesses in a criminal case.

Particular emphasis will be made to ensure that victims of domestic abuse are not being deported after reporting abuse to police, he said.

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"We are listening to those concerns and addressing them head-on today."

John Morton,

director of ICE, regarding changes in Secure Communities