Amy Taxin
AP 8/17/09
The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Monday the agency is
no longer using arrest quotas in a program aimed at tracking down immigrants who
have ignored court orders to leave the country. [...]
Agency records from ICE's fugitive operations program show that beginning
in 2004, teams were assigned to arrest at least 125 so-called fugitive
immigrants. In 2006, each team's quota was increased to 1,000 fugitive
arrests.
Immigrant advocates voiced outrage at the quotas and accused agents
of racial profiling to net more arrests. An internal ICE report released earlier
this year showed that agents arrested two dozen Latinos at a Maryland
convenience store in 2007 after their supervisor told them to boost arrests
because they were behind reaching their goal. [...]
Morton also said he expects a relatively new program that lets local law
enforcement check arrestees' immigration status eventually could reduce the need
to train local officers to run immigration checks in jails.
The program,
dubbed "Secure Communities", gives local law enforcement access to an
immigration database. That way, when an arrestee's fingerprints are taken, their
immigration history is checked along with their criminal background. ICE aims to
finish rolling out the program nationwide in 2013.
Immigrant advocates said
they worry that both Secure Communities and the jail check program can lead
local police to carry out minor arrests with the intent of checking a person's
immigration status.
Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i7YH6upLaKMMA47eojCQU8F1F9UAD9A4VE280
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