Last week, the federal government announced it would rescind its
memorandums of agreement with 39 states that participate in the federal
Secure Communities program. This decision does not end the program, the
notice stated; instead, it clarifies that the program is a federal one
and any agreement with states is not necessary or required.
“Secure Communities is based on federal law and federal information
sharing,” said John Sandweg, counsel to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano.
“As a result of those laws, an MOA was never necessary to operate the
program. Unfortunately we created a lot of confusion.”
The Secure Communities program, which is managed by Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, compares fingerprints of people arrested by police
officers against a federal database to see if those people are eligible
to be deported to their home country. The program has been the cause of
much controversy; immigration advocates state that it is too strict and
will lead to the deportation of immigrants for minor crimes, or no
crimes at all, as well as the criminals for whom the program was
designed.
