Secure CommunitiesInternal e-mails reveal FBI confused by Secure Communities
Recently released government e-mails indicate that the FBI had strong doubts about Secure Communities, a controversial DHS immigration program; officials worried that the misunderstanding over whether or not cities and states could actually opt out of the program would lead to a rift between local and federal law enforcement agencies
Emails reveal confusion over Secure Communities 'opt-out' // Source: thewwvacation.com
Recently released government e-mails indicate that the FBI had strong doubts about Secure Communities, a controversial DHS immigration program.
Under the program, local law enforcement agencies would automatically scan a detainee’s fingerprints against FBI and DHS databases to determine if they had entered the country legally and if they have a criminal record. The data would also be shared with FBI and immigration officials, but in an internal e-mail, a senior FBI official expressed concerns that the program could jeopardize partnerships with local law enforcement agencies.
In particular, officials worried that the misunderstanding over whether or not cities and states could actually opt out of the program would lead to a rift between local and federal law enforcement agencies.
DHS has sparked considerable confusion by publicly stating that communities could opt out and then publicly contradicting prior statements by saying the program was mandatory.
Jerome M. Pender, the assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services division, in an e-mail wrote that with cities and states opting out of the program, the federal-local information sharing model could “implode.”
Meanwhile in a 10 May e-mail chain that included Pender, one FBI official said, “[DHS] has publicly stated there is no ‘opt out,’ but we have never heard [if the Department of Justice] will take the same stance.”
“I agree,” replied Stephen L. Morris, the special agent in charge of Houston. “Any way we go will contradict one of our partners.”
“This is a tough one,” responded Daniel D. Roberts, the assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services division, in the e-mail chain. “I assume that we need to support ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] that states can’t opt out of secure communities.”
In addition, the e-mails, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by a coalition of civil rights groups, showed FBI officials wanted the U.S. attorney general to review the program.
“Whatever else should happen we are stuck in the middle of a nuclear war,” wrote Pender. “I don’t think we need [Homeland Security] direction, I think we need [attorney general] direction. If we have to decide, I don’t see how we can use the data in a way the owner explicitly bans.”
Alan Kraut, a professor at American University professor who specializes in immigration history, said the internal confusion over Secure Communities shows that the federal government does not have a unified policy on the program.
“When it comes to using people’s identification when there’s not an actual criminal act, it’s about local jurisdictions trying to preserve their autonomy from the federal government. Many communities just don’t want to be used that way.”
So far multiple states and cities including Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, Chicago, and California have publicly sought to pull out of the program with some going as far as instructing law enforcement agencies not to comply with the program.
