home

Tag: Secure Communities

Homeland Security Kicks Arpaio and County Out of Secure Communities Program

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced today that Maricopa County has been terminated from the controversial 287(g) Secure Communities program as a result of the Justice Department's report today finding civil rights violations.

“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is troubled by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) findings of discriminatory policing practices within the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO). Discrimination undermines law enforcement and erodes the public trust. DHS will not be a party to such practices. Accordingly, and effective immediately, DHS is terminating MCSO’s 287(g) jail model agreement and is restricting the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office access to the Secure Communities program.

DHS will utilize federal resources for the purpose of identifying and detaining those individuals who meet U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) immigration enforcement priorities. The Department will continue to enforce federal immigration laws in Maricopa County in smart, effective ways that focus our resources on criminal aliens, recent border crossers, repeat and egregious immigration law violators and employers who knowingly hire illegal labor.”

Now it's time to end Secure Communities.

(4 comments) Permalink :: Comments

FOIA Documents Show Vast FBI Biometric Database Underway

Secure Communities is not just about Homeland Security, ICE and immgrants. It's also about the FBI and you.

The latest information revealed in documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the Center for Constitutional Rights and Benjamin Cardozo Immigrant Justice Clinic: The FBI “views massive biometric information collection as a goal in itself” as a part of the Next Generation Identification (NGI) system."

The NGI system aims to collect fingerprints, palm prints, iris scans, identifying marks, scars, tattoos, facial characteristics and voice recognition. These are not necessarily collected from arrested suspects but also from mobile biometric scanning devices and fingerprints left anywhere and everywhere.

[More...]

(9 comments, 179 words in story) There's More :: Permalink :: Comments