U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
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Secure Communities
Headline News
6/19/2009 Miami, FL New program enhances identifying and deporting criminal aliens in 9 Florida counties
6/16/2009 Laredo, TX 5 additional Texas counties become part of new program to enhance identification and removal of criminal aliens
6/10/2009 Edinburg, TX New program launched to enhance identification and removal of criminal aliens in six South Texas counties
5/26/2009 San Diego, CA New program launched to enhance identification and removal of criminal aliens in San Diego County
5/19/2009 Huntsville, TX Texas' prison system is the first to partner with ICE to automatically identify and remove criminal aliens
3/9/2009 Fairfax, VA New ICE program enhances identifying and removing criminal aliens in Fairfax county
Phased Implementation
ICE’s Secure Communities initiative is designed to accurately and efficiently identify criminal aliens; to prioritize them based on the severity of their crimes; and to help transform the systems and processes necessary to remove them from the United States.
To accomplish this, ICE is using biometric identification technologies currently in use by the FBI and other parts of DHS, and combining them in a new, powerful way. ICE is currently deploying across the nation to all jurisdictions, beginning by focusing on sites that represent the highest concentrations of the most dangerous criminal aliens.
Current and Planned Deployment
Recent Secure Communities Statistics
As of June 4, 2009, biometric identification is now available in 50 jurisdictions in eight states, servicing more than 1,420 booking locations: Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia. Each month, ICE will deploy to more sites, eventually producing millions of annual fingerprint submissions.
As of May 31, 2009, 43,633 biometric identification submissions resulted in an IDENT match. Of these, 3,713 were violent or narcotic offenders. As a result of the Secure Communities initiative, ICE issued 8,192 detainers after identifying criminal aliens who would have otherwise remained undetected.
