By Jennifer Kay
Lakeland Ledger
MIAMI — Local law enforcement officers throughout Florida now can access U.S. immigration records to check the fingerprints of immigrants in their custody, officials said Tuesday.
The system is part of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “Secure Communities” program to improve and modernize the identification and removal of illegal immigrants who have been convicted of crimes in the U.S.
Including Florida, 23 states now participate in the program. The agency plans to make the system available nationwide by 2013.
Before the system was activated in Florida, fingerprints taken at local jails were checked only against FBI criminal records.
Now fingerprints also will be checked against immigration records maintained by the Department of Homeland Security. Immigration authorities will be alerted automatically if there’s a match.
Within about four hours, authorities will begin to determine whether an individual in police custody is subject to deportation. If so, ICE will monitor the case. Illegal immigrants charged with major drug offenses, murder, rape or kidnapping will be flagged as priority cases.
If the person is convicted, ICE will assume custody when the prison sentence is complete.
Since fingerprints are unique, the system helps identify illegal immigrants who give authorities fake names, said Michael Meade, director of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in Miami. It also catches people who have been deported previously.
“This initiative ensures that our local law enforcement partners know as much as possible about the people in their custody,” Meade said.
It also lowers the cost and risks of pursuing these illegal immigrants on the streets, he said.
“We’ll identify the worst of the worst while they’re in jail,” Meade said. “The less that my officers have to go to somebody’s house to look for them, the safer they are.”
The system has been activated in 24 Florida counties since last year, and the rest of the state’s 67 counties were added last week.
Copyright 2010 Lakeland Ledger Publishing Corporation