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San Jose Mercury News, AP: U.S. Reps Want California Out of Fingerprint Program

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U.S. reps want California out of fingerprint program

The Associated Press
   
LOS ANGELES—Critics say a Homeland Security program that requires fingerprints of arrestees to be shared with immigration agents erodes trust between immigrants and police. Now some California congressional members are calling on Gov. Jerry Brown to suspend the state’s participation in the Secure Communities program.

Democratic Reps. Xavier Becerra, Lucille Roybal-Allard and Judy Chu, along with Los Angeles city council members Bernard Parks and Jan Perry, will hold a news conference Friday in Los Angeles to announce the release of a letter to Brown, Becerra’s office said in a statement Thursday.

The letter asks the governor to suspend the state’s participation in the program until questions about its effect on the reporting of crime by victims and witnesses in immigrant communities are effectively answered, the statement said.

The move follows this week’s vote by the Los Angeles City Council to support state efforts to withdraw from the controversial program.

Through Secure Communities, the FBI shares with the Homeland Security Department fingerprints that local and state law enforcement have sent to the FBI to get criminal histories. The Homeland Security Department checks the prints against its immigration records to identify people illegally in the country or who can be forced to leave the U.S.

Immigration officials say the goal is to ensure illegal immigrants who commit crimes are flagged and deported. Nationwide, about 26 percent of those deported under program have been convicted of major drug offenses or violent crimes.

Massachusetts is the latest state to opt out of the program, joining New York and Illinois. The California Assembly has voted to withdraw. A Senate vote is pending.