Calhoun County joins ICE efforts (The Times and Democrat)

Calhoun County joins ICE efforts
T&D Staff Report | Posted: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 6:00 am

Calhoun, Chesterfield and Sumter counties have joined the effort to help federal immigration officials identify criminal aliens, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Tuesday.

The Secure Communities program helps ICE identify criminal aliens in state prisons and local jails by running their fingerprints against federal immigration databases when they are booked into the system.

"Secure Communities enhances public safety by enabling ICE to identify and remove criminal aliens more efficiently and effectively from the United States," Secure Communities Acting Assistant Director Marc Rapp said.

ICE is now using this capability in 29 South Carolina jurisdictions, including Bamberg and Orangeburg counties. Across the country, ICE is using this capability in 1,298 jurisdictions in 42 states.

As a result of this improved information-sharing since October 2008, ICE says it has removed more than 72,000 criminal aliens - more than 26,000 of whom were convicted of felonies such as murder, rape, kidnapping and the sexual abuse of children.