New Technology Will Help Local Police Identify Illegal Aliens

The Department of Homeland Security announced today that all local law enforcement officials will soon be able to access a new technology that allows them to compare the fingerprints of prisoners with FBI and DHS databases. It will help local police identify criminal illegal aliens.

The technology is part of the Secure Communities program and should be available to all local police by 2013. The one-year old program has helped identify 111,000 illegal aliens in custody and 11,000 who have committed serious offenses.

About 1,900 illegal aliens have been deported as a result of the program. The rest are serving sentences, awaiting deportation or still going through the sentencing process. Ninety-five police agencies across the nation currently participate in the program, and Washington D.C. will become a member in two weeks.

For more information, see the ICE Fact Sheet on Secure Communities.