ImmigrationSecure Communities: facts and figures

Published 2 May 2011

Secure Communities is a program of DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division under which local police agencies submit to the FBI the fingerprints of all suspects they detain. The FBI sends the fingerprints to immigration officials to see whether the detainees have also violated immigration laws; between October 2008 and 31 March 2011, local communities sent 7,225,393 fingerprints to the FBI

Map of jurisdictions enrolled in Secure Communities // Source: deportationnation.org

Secure Communities is a program of DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division under which local police agencies submit to the FBI the fingerprints of all suspects they detain. The FBI sends the fingerprints to immigration officials to see whether the detainees have also violated immigration laws.

The San Francisco Chronicle offers some facts and figures about the program:

Number of arrestees fingerprinted under the program:

  • California: 1,785,488 fingerprints were sent to ICE between 26 May 2009, (when the program started in California) and 31 March 2011.
  • Nationally: 7,225,393 fingerprints were sent between October 2008 and 31 March 2011.

Number of those arrested or booked into ICE custody:

  • California: 78,407
  • Nationally: 197,302

Number of those deported:

  • California: 38,828
  • Nationally: 101,741

Number of arrestees convicted of crimes and then deported:

  • California: 27,899
  • Nationally: 72,445

Kinds of crimes deportees are convicted of:

  • California:
    • 31 percent (11,946 out of 38,828) of those removed were convicted of “Level 1” offenses, defined by ICE as “individuals who have been convicted of aggravated felonies including major drug offenses, national security crimes, and violent crimes such as murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery and kidnapping” from 26 May 2009 through 31 March.
    • 14 percent (5,615) were convicted of Level 2 offenses, which includes felonies and misdemeanors.
    • 27 percent (10,338) were convicted of Level 3 offenses, misdemeanors punishable by less than one year in jail (the Chronicle notes that this probably includes domestic violence survivors who were arrested, but never charged with a crime).
  • Nationally:
    • 26 percent (26,473 out of 101,741) are charged with or are convicted of “level 1” offenses.
    • 45 percent (45,972) of deportations are classified by ICE as level 2 or 3 offenses.
    • 29 percent (29,296) of deportations are classified by ICE as “non-criminals” from Oct. 27, 2008, through March 31.