By Danny Fenster
ticklethewire.com
Provisions which allowed local law enforcement officials more choices in complying with the federal Secure Communities immigration enforcement program will be “streamlined” or “eliminated,” bringing law enforcement groups in line with federal mandates, reports the LA Times.
The information-sharing program between the FBI and local law enforcement, which allows the FBI to share with ICE fingerprints collected from county jails, was implemented two years ago as a way to focus immigration enforcement on “serious convicted criminals,” according to the LA Times. However, it has come under fire as a large portion of the immigrants in the system were never convicted of crimes or were low-level offenders, the Times reported.
Dated Oct. 2, 2010 but only released recently, a 9-page letter from a legal advisor for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that “choices available to law enforcement agencies who have thus far decided to decline or limit their participation in current information-sharing processes will be streamlined and aspects eliminated. In that way, the process, in essence, becomes ‘mandatory’ in 2013.”
To read more click here.
