Menendez Applauds DHS' Decision to Investigate Secure Communities Program: Senator Menendez Supported Rep. Lofgren's Call for an Investigation into the Program's Implementation last Week

Abstract

[...] more than two years ago, ICE responded to a written question for the record posed by then-Chairman David Price that ICE does not require any entity to participate in the information sharing technology at the state or local level.[i] Similarly, in an August 26, 2009, e-mail exchange specifically on the topic of whether Secure Communities is mandatory or voluntary, one ICE official wrote that Secure Communities will remain voluntary at both the State and Local level. . . . [...] time as localities begin to push back on participation, we will continue with this current line of thinking.[ii] A memorandum prepared in 2009 for ICE Director John Morton on the topic of voluntariness acknowledges that [t]o date, Secure Communities has stated in various arenas, including Congress, that state and local participation in IDENT/IAFIS Interoperability is voluntary.[iii] In order to clarify significant confusion about the program, I wrote to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano on July 27, 2010, specifically asking how local law enforcement agencies may opt out of Secure Communities by having the fingerprints they collect and submit to the SIBs checked against criminal, but not immigration, databases.