Secure Communities US Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Essay Example

? 01 June Secure Communities – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Immigration opens doors to terrorism. A recent analysis of the immigration histories of 94 terrorists shows widespread violations of immigration laws and their direct impacts on terrorism (Kephart). The prevailing majority of terrorists were found to have violated immigration laws more than once (Kephart). It is no wonder that the United States works hard to eliminate the risks of terrorism and reduce the contribution of legal and illegal immigration in the development of terrorist strategies. Secure Communities is a new strategy developed by the Department of Homeland Security, with the goal of identifying arrested immigrants who are to be deported under U.S. law. The Secure Communities strategy has considerable benefits and several weaknesses. Despite the growing concern with regard to the validity and legitimacy of the Secure Communities strategy, it is the best way to diminish the scope of illegal immigration and its potential contribution to terrorism: through Secure Communities, the U.S. will finally remove thousands of offenders from its territory and reduce the costs of law enforcement and criminal justice without any damage caused to the security and individual rights protection of U.S. citizens. Secure Communities is a new strategy developed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with the goal of identifying arrested immigrants who are to be deported from the country under U.S. law (Immigration Policy Center). The Secure Communities strategy works in a quite straightforward way. Once an individual is arrested, his (her) fingerprints are sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and checked against all criminal databases (Immigration Policy Center). Under the Secure Communities strategy, these fingerprints are also sent to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), to be checked against the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology Program (Immigration Policy Center). If the person arrested in the U.S. is matched to one or more immigration violation records in ICE, a notification is sent to local law enforcement authorities and a legitimate decision is made, depending on the severity of the violation and the arrestee’s legal status (Immigration Policy Center). Before the individual is released back into the community, ICE will decide whether he (she) has the legal right to be present on the American territory or should be detained to be further deported from the country under U.S. law. Secure Communities has the potential to reduce the number of immigrant offenders in the United States. It is no secret that the entire program is intended to reduce the number of immigrant criminals and terrorists in the American land. The program offers vast opportunities for removing the most dangerous criminals (MacDonald). Statistically, every fifth suspect matched to a violation record in the Secure Communities program is deemed Class I offender (MacDonald). Since the beginning of the program, a total of 64,000 individuals, including more than 14,000 Class I offenders, have been deported from the country (MacDonald). To a large extent, Secure Communities increase safety and security across all American communities where the program is implemented: by 2013, all states and communities will need to have the program in place. As a result, all communities will be able to enjoy the benefits of the new program and to become safe and secure for their members. Secure Communities reduce the costs of law enforcement and criminal justice for U.S. taxpayers without any damage caused to their safety and security in American communities. The program enables greater interoperability across all law enforcement agencies (Immigration Policy Center). With the help of the Secure Communities program, law enforcement professionals can access both IAFIS and IDENT databases, which reduce the time of information processing and its costs (Pless). The discussed integration of computer databases under the Secure Communities strategy will also eliminate the risks of duplicated efforts in the country’s striving to remove offenders and potential terrorists from its territory. Certainly, the discussed program is not without drawbacks: the most common criticism is that the program violates the fundamental civil rights and threatens the liberties and freedom of U.S. citizens and immigrants. Through the expansion of the biometric technology, the Secure Communities program can prevent immigrants from reporting crimes to law enforcement agencies and elevate the risks of unlawful detention without hearings or criminal charges (Pless). Finally, human rights activists blame the Secure Communities for failure to protect immigrants from the risks of racial profiling (Pless). In reality, it is with the help of the Secure Communities and its biometric technologies that the risks of racial profiling and their negative effects on criminal justice can be diminished. The use of integrated technologies makes law enforcement organizations less biased in their relations with immigrants and offenders. Race, gender, or social status no longer matter, as long as the person arrested or detained by law enforcement professionals has a valid immigration status. To ensure greater effectiveness of the Secure Communities program, law enforcement and immigration authorities in the U.S. should be aware of and deal with the potential civil rights violations. Secure Communities is a new strategy developed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with the goal of removing offenders and terrorists from the territory of the United States. Secure Communities operate through the law enforcement and criminal justice agencies, whose main goal is to ensure that all residents who have violated immigration law are detected and deported from the country. The way the Secure Communities strategy works is rather straightforward: once an individual is arrested, his (her) fingerprints are sent to the FBI and ICE to be matched against several databases. The major benefit of the Secure Communities strategy is that it helps to remove offenders and terrorists from the American territory. The cost-effectiveness of the proposed strategy should not be disregarded. However, the risks of civil rights violations should not be ignored: Secure Communities are often criticized for its potential negative impacts on individual freedoms in the U.S. Therefore, to ensure greater effectiveness of the Secure Communities program, law enforcement and immigration authorities in the U.S. should be aware of and deal with the potential civil rights violations. Works Cited Immigration Policy Center. “Secure Communities: A Fact Sheet.” Immigration Policy Center, 2011. Web. 01 June 2012. Kephart, Janice L. “Immigration and Terrorism: Moving Beyond the 9/11 Staff Report on Terrorist Travel.” Center for Immigration Studies, 2005. 01 June 2012. MacDonald, Gregg. “Fairfax County Sheriff Sees Benefits in Secure Communities Immigration Program.” The Washington Post, 8 Dec 2010. Web. 01 June 2012. Pless, Erica. “Undocumented Immigrants and Biometrics: Secure Communities – Promoting Security or Insecurity? National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology & the Law, 2010. 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