Jails to fingerprint, oust illegals

A new automated fingerprint-check system designed to find illegal alien criminals was tested for the first time by a local law enforcement agency today.

The system provides jailers with full access to suspects' immigration and criminal histories, the Houston Chronicle reported.

The sheriff's office in Harris County, Texas, is the first to test the program that links both the FBI database and the Department of Homeland Security database. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Gregory Palmore said the department was chosen because Houston has "one of the largest criminal alien populations in the United States."

The Center for Immigration Studies estimates more than 1.7 million illegal aliens live in Texas. The state has a reputation for welcoming illegals, and it has not passed a law targeting employers who hire them.

While the uncompensated cost of incarcerating illegal aliens in Texas' state and county prisons amounts to about $150 million a year, it does not include local jail detention costs or related law enforcement and judicial expenditures or the monetary costs of crimes that led to their incarceration.

As WND reported, illegal aliens are fleeing strict immigration enforcement policies in several states and settling in Texas. The state's budget is suffering and violent crime soaring.

 

WND researched FBI crime statistics from years 2006 to 2007 for 29 of Texas' largest cities with populations of more than 100,000. The Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report reveals Houston, one of the state's well-known sanctuary cities with "don't-ask-don't-tell" policies, experienced an additional 314 violent crimes in 2007 compared with 2006 figures.

Now Harris County jails have full access to databases, and each inmate's fingerprints will be checked against the federal records. Anyone who is suspected of being an illegal alien will be referred to ICE for further investigation and possible deportation.

The fingerprint check system is part of ICE's Secure Communities program, an initiative that seeks to remove illegal aliens who have been convicted of crimes. According to the Chronicle, ICE said it would be possible to deport most alien murderers, rapists and drug traffickers in the next three and a half years, though it would cost an estimated $1 billion.

Executive Director David Venturella of the ICE program said the agency intends to keep illegal alien criminals off the streets.

"We have a full-court press on to make sure these violent criminal aliens don't step back into the community because we miss them in our identification process."

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