Politics & Government
All California Counties Now Linked to Immigration Enforcement System
All counties in the state linked to a federal system that alerts federal immigration authorities when an immigrant is taken into custody.
Federal immigration authorities announced today that all of the state's counties are now linked to a system that alerts them when immigrants — legal or not — are taken into custody by local law enforcement officials.
Under the system, called Secure Communities, the fingerprints of immigrants booked by local police or sheriff's departments are automatically checked against Department of Homeland Security records.
If there is a match, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is immediately notified. ICE then evaluates the individual's immigration status and determines appropriate action, including deportation.
Find out what's happening in Alamedawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
ICE said in a news release that it would "respond with a priority placed on aliens convicted of the most serious crimes first — such as those with convictions for major drug offenses, murder, rape and kidnapping."
The Secure Communities system was activated in Alameda County in April 2010. Since then, ICE has picked up 991 people from county jails, according to agency data included in an article from the Bay Area News Group. Nearly two-thirds of them were convicted criminals.
Find out what's happening in Alamedawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Of those arrested, 558 had been deported by the end of January — 327 of them convicted criminals, according to the data.
In Contra Costa County, which also linked to the system in April of last year, 1,949 detainees have been arrested by ICE—1,146 of them convicted criminals. Of those arrested, 657 have been deported, including 367 convicted criminals.
Contra Costa has had the highest number of ICE arrests in the Bay Area under the new system, followed by Santa Clara County, according to the article.
Since the Secure Communities system began in California in April 2009, a total of 65,760 arrests have been made around the state, according to the data. Of these, about half have been deported, including 23,712 convicted criminals.
California is the ninth state to put the system in place across all of its counties, according to the agency. The system is in at least partial use in 39 states.
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