Federal immigration enforcement is mandatory, memo says

LAT ^ | January 8, 2012, 11:01 p.m. | Paloma Esquivel, Los Angeles Times

[BenLurkin]

Two years after the Secure Communities immigration enforcement program was implemented, federal officials determined that choices available to local law enforcement agencies that wished to decline or limit their participation would be "streamlined" or "eliminated," making the information-sharing program mandatory, according to a memo recently made public.

Launched in 2008, Secure Communities was promoted to local and state leaders as a way to focus immigration enforcement efforts on "serious convicted criminals." But the program, which involves the FBI sharing fingerprints collected from county jails with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has come under fire because a large percentage of immigrants caught up in the system were never convicted of a crime or were low-level offenders.

Federal officials initially said there were ways for state and local officials to drop out of the program. This assertion was repeated by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Assistant Atty. Gen. Ronald Welch.

Three states sought to opt out of or suspend participation in Secure Communities, and last August the Department of Homeland Security told governors that the fingerprint-sharing program did not need their approval to operate and that it was voiding agreements signed to authorize their states' participation.

Whether state and local jurisdictions can be compelled to participate in the federal fingerprint-sharing program has been a key question as states including New York, Illinois, Massachusetts and some counties have sought to opt out or suspend participation only to be told they cannot.

[moonshinner_09]

Like Calif and New York intend to comply with this order.