Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness and Response, applauds U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the launch of the Secure Communities Program, an initiative to enhance the abilities of five South Texas counties to check the criminal and immigration records of inmates in an effort to ensure criminal non-residents are not rereleased into the community.

In coordination with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Hidalgo, Bexar, Starr, Webb and Zapata county sheriffs’ departments will have access to the Department of Homeland Security’s biometric system to scan for immigration records when booking individuals into their jails. This modernized information system scans the biometric fingerprints of individuals who are being incarcerated and informs ICE when non-resident criminals enter the jail system. A system of prioritized enforcement actions follow thereafter, as ICE works to ensure the highest-threat level non-resident criminals are not rereleased into the community.

“I congratulate and applaud ICE and the sheriff departments in our district who’ve been working together so diligently in an effort to stop non-resident criminals from being rereleased onto our streets once they serve their time,” said Congressman Henry Cuellar. “This program is a major enhancement to the resources of our counties’ law enforcement organizations and will maximize the use of federal systems already set in place. I have no doubt this will help make our communities more secure.”

 Last week, Hidalgo and Starr counties rolled out their new programs, and in the coming weeks Bexar, Webb and Zapata counties will participate too.

The Secure Communities Program is a nationwide effort between 52 participating counties and ICE. It connects existing local law enforcement databases to both the DHS and FBI biometric systems. Last year, ICE identified more than 221,000 potentially removable persons in our nations’ jails and reports that over one-third of all illegal immigrants deported last year were convicted criminals. President Barack Obama publicly supports this program, and Congress has appropriated over $1 billion towards the initiative since last year along with the support of Congressman Henry Cuellar.

Key Facts:

• According to ICE, over 300,000 inmates nationwide are non-resident criminals
• ICE Reports that 25% of Hidalgo County Detention Facility Inmates are non-resident criminals, out of an inmate population of 1,232
• By 2012, ICE hopes to expand this program nationwide. Currently, major cities such as Dallas, Houston, Boston and Miami are a part of this program
• Based on the pilot program, the agency estimates that if fingerprints from all 14 million bookings in local jails each year were screened, about 1.4 million "criminal aliens" would be found

For additional information please visit http://www.ice.gov/secure_communities/ where you can access the U.S. Customs and Immigrations Enforcement fact sheet on the program.

     ###

Congressman Henry Cuellar is a member of the U.S. House Homeland Security, Agriculture, and Government Oversight & Reform Committees in the 111th Congress.  Accessibility to constituents, education, health care, economic development, and national security are his priorities. Congressman Cuellar is also a Senior Whip and member of the Blue Dog Coalition.