Secure Communities

         The Secure Communities strategy is one that allows information to be shared between the United States Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. According to the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement website, the information sharing helps to "quickly and accurately identify aliens who are arrested for a crime and booked into local law enforcement custody. With this capability, the fingerprints of everyone arrested and booked are not only checked against FBI criminal history records, but they are also checked against DHS immigration records." Ultimately, it the fingerprints match records, it is determined if immigration enforcement action is required- immigration status is considered along with the crime and any criminal history.
       Today an article was published by the Mercury News regarding the Secure Communities strategy and how the Fed will not allow Santa Clara Country to opt out of the program. According to Mercury News, the program has "led to the deportation of nearly 47,000 illegal immigrants nationwide since it was introduced just over a year ago." The article also states that "although the program is meant to focus on undocumented residents who've been convicted of murder, rape and other serious crimes, opponents say it's snared people jailed for low-level offenses such as traffic violations. They also say it's led to racial profiling and has made immigrants afraid to report other crimes, such as domestic violence." In the end, the states decision about the program overrides the individual counties decisions.