Obama Administration Weakens Secure Communities

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today implemented several changes to weaken Secure Communities, a program that keeps our neighborhoods safe by identifying illegal and criminal immigrants in police custody who have been arrested and fingerprinted. 

Among these changes, ICE will not take enforcement action against those charged with minor traffic violations if they have not been previously convicted of other crimes.  This means that an illegal immigrant previously arrested for a serious crime, such as murder or rape, but not convicted would be cut loose under ICE’s new policy.  ICE also indicates that it could punish states and localities that are serious about the enforcement of federal immigration law by reviewing the number of illegal immigrants identified by Secure Communities in each jurisdiction and possibly taking action if the number is too high. 

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) criticized the changes made to Secure Communities in the statement below.

Chairman Smith:  “The Obama administration’s decision to weaken Secure Communities proves that they are not interested in the enforcement of our immigration laws.   Secure Communities is an important and effective immigration law enforcement program that identifies illegal and criminal immigrants in police custody.  The program doesn’t ask race or ethnicity-it merely checks the legal status of each person arrested, fingerprinted, and booked in jail.

“But this common sense program has fallen prey to the Obama administration and pro-illegal immigrant lobbying groups for one reason and one reason alone: Secure Community works.  It’s outrageous that the Administration will now penalize local law enforcement agencies that identify too many illegal and criminal immigrants through Secure Communities.  Why should they be punished for protecting their communities?  It’s ironic that the Obama administration seeks to punish local law enforcement for doing their job while the Administration blatantly neglects their own responsibilities. 

“The Administration’s changes to Secure Communities make our communities less safe and put American lives at risk.  The Obama administration should put the interests of Americans first, not those of illegal and criminal immigrants.”

To view the full ICE report, visit /_files/news/pdfs/27%20Apr%2012%20ICE%
20Response%20to%20SCTask%20Force%20Report.pdf