Immigration agency confirms fingerprint-sharing program is mandatory

Immigration and Customs Enforcement official David Venturella started off a meeting with San Francisco law enforcement leaders on Tuesday with an apology. ICE, he admitted, had given conflicting information about Secure Communities, a program that shares fingerprints taken for criminal background checks with federal immigration enforcement, and whether counties like More…

Document on Opting Out of Immigration Enforcement Program Mysteriously Disappears

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman said not to read too much into it, but the August document listing steps for communities to opt out of the Secure Communities program seems to have disappeared from the ICE website. The document was one of several written records More…

Santa Clara Plans to Push Back on Immigration Enforcement Program

After Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials shot down the idea of communities opting out of an ICE program, law enforcement leaders in Santa Clara, Calif., are looking at other ways to avoid stepping up their involvement in immigration enforcement. The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted Sept. More…

Napolitano Confirms There Is No Opt-Out Option for Secure Communities

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano confirmed today that Secure Communities, a program that provides federal immigration officials with fingerprint data from local police, is mandatory for local jurisdictions. “We don’t consider Secure Communities an opt in/opt out program,” Napolitano said, according to an Immigration and Customs More…

ICE Changes Its Mind on Secure Communities Opt-Out

The first two communities decided Tuesday to opt out of Secure Communities, a supposedly voluntary fingerprint-sharing program with federal immigration enforcement. But not so fast: Opting out of the program is not — and never was — an option, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials told the Washington Post:

Communities Opt Out of Immigration Enforcement Program

The first state communities are beginning to opt out of Secure Communities, a fingerprint-sharing program between local police and federal immigration enforcement officers. The program, which the Department of Homeland Security plans to extend nationwide by 2013, goes against some communities’ philosophies about policing immigration. Although the program has always More…

‘Opt-Out’ It Is

No surprise here. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is expected to announce at 3:15 EDT that the Senate health reform bill soon to hit the chamber floor will include a public plan but leave states with the option not to participate.

The move is an indication of two More…

Landrieu Hops on the Fence for the Public Option

Following her statement late Friday indicating she’s open to a public option compromise, we’ve officially moved Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) from the “Likely Opponents” column to the “On the Fence” category in TWI’s Senate Public Option Scoreboard.

Landrieu had previously expressed strong opposition to a public option, telling More…