The federal government will no longer rely on agreements with states to operateĀ its controversial Secure Communities program, which countsĀ the Florida Department of Law Enforcement andĀ all of Floridaās counties (.pdf) among its participants.
As the Los Angeles Times reports:
The Department of Homeland Security notified 39 governors Friday that the fingerprint-sharing program did not need their approval to operate in their states, and said it had voided agreements they had signed to authorize their statesā participation, according to a copy of the letter.āThis change will have no effect on the operation of Secure Communities in your state,ā read the letter, which was signed by John Morton, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Governors in the other 11 states had not signed agreements.
Hailed as the future of immigration enforcement, the program allows local law enforcement agencies to check the fingerprints of people they detain, and match them up with a federal immigration and criminal databases, with the goal of deporting criminals. But some state and local governments have refused to participate in the program, orĀ tried to back out of it. Officials in some of those states areĀ criticizingĀ the changes as an act of ābad faithā on the part of the federal government.
Critics have argued that the programĀ ensnares minor offenders and non-criminals, and alsoĀ puts a strain on local law enforcement resources. Those criticisms helped prompt Immigration and Customs Enforcement toĀ announce reforms.
