News Update - November 15, 2008

By Alan Lee, Esq.

New Cooperative Technology Allows State and Local Law Enforcement Officials to Increase Ability to Identify Undocumented Immigrants Upon Arrest

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have upgraded their respective biometric systems so that these systems can operate together in order for the two agencies to share information. U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (USICE) plans to use these systems at state and local law enforcement offices throughout the U.S. to more efficiently and rapidly identify and remove undocumented immigrants who commit criminal acts. Under the current booking process at most detention centers, an individual’s fingerprints are checked against the DOJ’s system only. The new process will check the fingerprints against DHS’s system at the same time. If the fingerprints match those of a non U.S. citizen, USICE will automatically be notified so that officials can evaluate the case and determine which steps should be taken. Local law enforcement officials are not permitted to take action against individuals found to be in violation of immigration law unless they have been trained and authorized by DHS. Currently pilot versions of this program are being conducted at seven sites throughout the U.S.

 


The author is a 26+ year practitioner of immigration law based in New York City. He was awarded the Sidney A. Levine prize for best legal writing at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1977 and has written extensively on immigration over the past years for the ethnic newspapers, World Journal, Sing Tao, Pakistan Calling, Muhasha and OCS. He has testified as an expert on immigration in civil court proceedings and was recognized by the Taiwan government in 1985 for his work protecting human rights. His article, "The Bush Temporary Worker Proposal and Comparative Pending Legislation: an Analysis" was Interpreter Releases' cover display article at the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual conference in 2004, and his victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of first impression nationwide, Firstland International v. INS, successfully challenged INS' policy of over 40 years of revoking approved immigrant visa petitions under a nebulous standard of proof. Its value as precedent, however, was short-lived as it was specifically targeted by the Administration in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004.

This article © 2008 Alan Lee, Esq.

 

Copyright © 2003-2012 Alan Lee, Esq.
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