DHS Says it Doesn’t Need State Cooperation to Execute Secure Communities

The Department of Homeland Security has told the nation’s governors that the agency doesn’t need their approval to run Secure Communities in their states. Secure Communities is a program managed by DHS that identifies criminal illegal aliens who have been booked into state and local prisons.

When criminals are fingerprinted, their prints are shared with the FBI. The FBI then shares the fingerprints with DHS who checks the immigration status of the criminal. If a criminal is identified as an illegal alien, DHS begins the removal process.

Several state governors, including New York’s Andrew Cuomo and Massachusetts Deval Patrick, have said they would not cooperate with Secure Communities. In response to those governors, DHS sent the following letter to more than 40 governors last Friday.

“No agreement with the state is legally necessary for one part of the federal government to share it with another part … . This change will have no effect on the operation of Secure Communities in your state.”

The Department of Homeland Security says it has identified and deported more than 77,000 illegal aliens convicted of crimes over the last three years through the program. DHS currently has agreements with 1,400 jurisdictions including the entire Southwest.

For more information, see the Los Angeles Times.