November 19, 2008

Law Enforcement Support Center

The Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC) is a national enforcement operations facility administered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the largest investigative agency in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). LESC is a single national point of contact that provides timely customs information and immigration status and identity information and real-time assistance to local, state and federal law enforcement agencies on aliens suspected, arrested or convicted of criminal activity.

Located in Williston, Vt., LESC operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The primary users of LESC are state and local law enforcement officers seeking information about aliens encountered in the course of their daily enforcement activities.

LESC also receives queries from federal, state and local correctional and court systems seeking information about individuals in custody or encountered elsewhere in the criminal justice system. Law enforcement officers have immediate access to alien records entered with the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and immigration information from every alien file maintained by DHS— approximately 100 million records—by using the formatted Immigration Alien Query (IAQ) screen incorporated within each state's law enforcement communications system.

LESC Services

In addition to providing immigration and identity information on suspected criminal aliens, LESC offers other vital services, including:

• National Crime Information Center (NCIC)—LESC administers and controls all ICE criminal and administrative records in this nationwide law enforcement consortium and criminal database. There are now over 250,000 ICE records in NCIC.
• Communications Center—LESC operates a communications center that provides NCIC Hit Confirmations (within 10 minutes) to law enforcement agencies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In addition, the command center agents and officers place immigration detainers on aliens wanted by ICE. The command center also provides assistance on immigration alien queries, instant immigration status checks for ICE Officers, and answers the dedicated law enforcement phone lines. Other services provided by the command center include contacting ICE duty agents for ICE field responses, and handles ICEPIC/LEISS requests for information. A public affairs unit is also available to handle media calls during normal business hours.
• Special Response Tasks—LESC is the central point of contact for a number of special information requests. For example, LESC conducts “Brady checks” for the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), screening the immigration status of foreign-born, non-citizen firearm permit applicants before authorizing purchase or possession of a weapon. Since March 2003, LESC has performed 338,404 Brady checks for the FBI. LESC also provides daily assistance to the U.S. Secret Service by assisting in the screening of persons seeking to visit or work on the White House grounds. LESC has helped USSS screen 253,358 individuals over the last six fiscal years.
• Law Enforcement Training—To help the law enforcement community make better use of information LESC provides, the center offers an on-site training and outreach program that provides instruction on how to access LESC information and on ICE's role and responsibilities. ICE 287(g) training includes an LESC training module presented by an LESC officer.
• ICE Tip Line, 1-866-DHS-2ICE—LESC maintains an around-the-clock toll-free tip line for the public to report suspicious activity to ICE. Tip line callers provide information concerning a broad array of ICE investigative interests, including criminal and administrative immigration violations, child pornography, sex tourism, commercial and intellectual property crimes, contraband, smuggling, financial crimes, human trafficking/smuggling, identity and benefits fraud, and national security threats.

Significant Accomplishments for FY 2008

• The number of requests for information sent to LESC increased from 4,000 in FY 1996 to 807,106 in FY 2008, setting a new record for assistance to other law enforcement agencies.
• During FY 2008, special agents at LESC placed 16,423 detainers on foreign nationals wanted by ICE for criminal and immigration violations.
• The records of more than 250,000 previously deported aggravated felons, immigration fugitives and wanted criminals are now in the NCIC system.
• Special agents at LESC confirmed 8,440 NCIC hits during FY 2008.

Some LESC accomplishments since DHS and ICE were created in March 2003 include:

• Over the past six fiscal years, LESC has responded to a combined total of 4,135,104 electronic queries.
• In FY 2008, queries were received from nearly 12,000 distinct ORIs (electronic addresses) representing law enforcement agencies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, two U.S. Territories and Canada.
• Since November 2004, LESC has received 637,081 telephone calls on its dedicated law enforcement lines from law enforcement officers around the country seeking ICE information or assistance.
• The ICE special agents assigned to LESC have lodged 79,450 ICE immigration detainers against criminal and wanted aliens over the last five fiscal years. Of those, 36,969 detainers were placed on criminals or fugitives who were NCIC hits.
• LESC has received more than 534,000 calls on the ICE tip-line, 1-866-DHS-2ICE, since October 2003.
• Viable leads are sent electronically to ICE field offices for action or investigation within 24 to 48 hours of the call.