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INTRODUCTION 15 While the implementation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of the state /local partnership agreements known as the 287(8) program has been a source of great controversy, it is far from the only tool ICE uses to engage state and local law enforcement in immigration control. Most notably, the Secure Communities Program, which launched in March 2008, has been held out as a simplified model for state and local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Under Secure Communities, participating jurisdictions submit arrestees' fingerprints not only to criminal databases, but to immigration databases as well; allowing ICE access to information on individuals held in jails, many of whom are not necessarily subject to removal. While state and local law- enforcement officers are not making arrests for immigration violations, they are allowing ICE to tap into information about detainees and make determinations about additional ICE enforcement action. Although the program may allow ICE to identify genuine criminal threats, critics have pointed out that it suffers from many of the same problems plaguing 287(g). This paper lays out the limited information available on Secure Communities, identifies concerns raised over its operations, and makes recommendations for improving the program. What is Secure Communities? Representative David Price (D- 4th /NC), chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, has been the main proponent of a system to identify and remove "criminal aliens" from jails and prisons. According to Price, who also favors comprehensive immigration reform: No matter what one's opinion about the broader illegal immigration problem and how to address it, we should all be able to agree that ICE's highest priority should be to identify and deport unlawfully present aliens who have already shown themselves to be a danger to our communities and have been convicted of serious crimes.' The Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provided funding to "improve and modernize efforts to identify aliens convicted of a crime, sentenced to imprisonment, and who may be deportable, and remove them from the United States once they are judged deportable." The FY 2009 DHS appropriations provided $200 million for Secure Communities, which is only a small portion of the $1 billion ICE received to identify and remove immigrants with criminal convictions. The FY 2010 DHS appropriations bill contains $1.5 billion for identifying and removing criminal aliens, including $200 million for Secure Communities.Z In accordance with Congress's mandate, ICE launched the Secure Communities program in March 20083 to allow ICE to access local jails throughout the United States to identify immigrants subject to removal. On March 24, 2008, ICE submitted to Congress a report entitled "Secure Communities: A Comprehensive Plan to Identify and Remove Criminal Aliens." The first Executive Director of Secure Communities, David Venturella, was named on September 8, 2008. What began as a relatively small program in North Carolina and Texas4 has been expanded: as of August 30, 2009, ICE reports, Secure Communities is available in 81 jurisdictions in nine states.5 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 2013.6 ICE also recently announced plans for a pilot program in Florida which will extend to all individuals on parole or probation.' 11