Agenda - 12-15-2009 - 3c - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 Introduction It is our understanding that "Secure Communities" is a mandatory program of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and will eventually be in operation in all 100 counties in North Carolina as well as in all detention centers nationwide. Since this program requires the cooperation of Orange County law enforcement officials and employees, as well as the use of county facilities and equipment, and could potentially impact the trust between Orange County law enforcement and immigrant communities, it is not unreasonable for the County Commission to request detailed data on who has been taken into ICE custody in exchange as well as making sure other safeguards are in place. What is Secure Communities and How Does it Work? Secure Communities is a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program designed to identify immigrants in U.S. jails who are deportable under immigration law. Under Secure Communities, participating jails submit arrestees' fingerprints not only to criminal databases, but to immigration databases as well; allowing ICE access to information on individuals held in jails. Unlike other partnerships between DHS and local law enforcement, Secure Communities gives ICE a technological, not physical, presence in prisons and jails. No Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs) with local law enforcement agencies are required, and no local law enforcement agents are deputized to enforce immigration laws through Secure Communities. As of November 2009, Secure Communities is available in 81 jurisdictions in nine states. ICE plans to have a Secure Communities presence in every state by 2011, and plans to implement Secure Communities in each of the 3,100 state and local jails across the country by 2013. When an individual is booked into a . jail, his or her fingerprints are checked against the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology Program (US- VISIT), and the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT), in addition to the other databases that are generally checked following an arrest. This fingerprint check allows state and local law enforcement and ICE automatically and immediately to search the databases for an individual's criminal and immigration history. If there is a database "hit," meaning that the arrested person is matched to a record indicating an immigration violation, ICE and the local law- enforcement authorities are automatically notified. ICE then evaluates each case to determine the individual's immigration status and take appropriate enforcement action. In most cases, ICE will issue a detainer against the jailed individual. A detainer is a request from ICE to the arresting agency to notify ICE before it releases the noncitizen so that ICE has the opportunity to decide whether the individual should be transferred to federal custody rather than released.