Harris Co. TX sheriff can now access immigration database

[peejay 327]

Sheriff's office can now access huge immigration database

By SUSAN CARROLL

2008 Houston Chronicle

Oct. 27, 2008, 3:48PM

The Harris County Sheriff's Office today became the first local law enforcement agency in the nation to test an automated fingerprint check system that gives jailers full access to suspects' immigration history, officials said.

The new program provides a seamless and simultaneous check of immigration and criminal history by linking the FBI's database with the Department of Homeland Security's database, known as IDENT (the Automated Biometric Identification System), officials said Monday.

Gregory Palmore, a spokesman with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Houston, said the Sheriff's Office was selected to lead the pilot program in part because Houston has "one of the largest criminal alien populations in the United States."

In February 2007, Harris County was selected as one of a handful of law enforcement agencies to test out a more limited version of the integrated databases. That earlier version of the database contained records from ICE and information on people rejected for visas by the Department of State based on specific criteria.

Under the new system, Harris County jailers will have full access to millions of immigration records in the IDENT database, Palmore said. When a suspect is booked into Harris County Jail, his fingerprints will be checked against the FBI system and the immigration database simultaneously.

Palmore said the Sheriff's Office will not require additional training to run the checks through IDENT since the process is automated. Any "hits" for non-citizens will be referred to ICE's Law Enforcement Support Center for more investigation, officials said.

Palmore said improving the link between the two databases is part of ICE's Secure Communities program, which aims to identify and remove immigrants convicted of crimes. ICE estimates that it screens foreign-born inmates in only about 10 percent of the nation's estimated 3,100 jails. ICE estimated that to identify and remove the most serious criminals — those convicted of crimes including murder, rape and drug trafficking — would take at least 3 and a half years and cost up to $1 billion.

In August, nine Harris County jailers participated in ICE's 287 g program, which trains local law enforcement to help identify illegal immigrants. Through that program, the trained jailers already had the ability to check the DHS databases, but had to run fingerprints separately through the FBI and immigration systems.

Now, instead of checking only people referred to jailers with specialized immigration training or ICE agents, all inmates will be run against the database, immigration officials said.

"We have a full-court press on to make sure these violent criminal aliens don't step back into the community because we miss them in our identification process," said David Venturella, the executive director of ICE's Secure Communities program.

In a statement, Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas called illegal immigration "a complex issue," adding that "the best solutions to complex issues are found when law enforcement agencies at all levels work together, in cooperation with the community."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6080486.html

[Ban Hammer 14,269]

cool!

[HAL 9000 96]

Increase efficiency. Focus on targeting the junk.

[almaty 19]

i have allot of opinions on the detention officers,.,but will keep it confidential