WASHINGTON — Investigators found no evidence that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials intentionally misled Congress or state and local officials about the program that gives federal immigration authorities access to fingerprints of prisoners in local jails, according to two reports released Friday.
The program, called Secure Communities, began in 2008 as a way to find violent criminals who should be deported. Local and state agencies signed agreements with ICE to participate in the program.
When deportations soared as a result of ICE finding minor violations, some agencies sought to back out of the deals but were told by ICE that they could not.
A report by the acting inspector general at the Department of Homeland Security, Charles Edwards, said initial “confusion” inside ICE about whether local approval was needed to join the federal effort resulted in a “lack of clarity” in explaining it to state and local officials.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who requested the reports, said she was “disappointed” that the reports failed to answer her questions about whether the program encouraged racial profiling or discouraged immigrants from reporting crimes to police.
Edwards’ report acknowledged that confusion inside ICE about the fingerprint-sharing program had stoked “opposition, criticism and resistance in some locations.”
Secure Communities drew scrutiny after governors in several states complained it had ensnared thousands of minor offenders, including some who had not yet been tried or convicted, and had deterred some crime victims from coming forward to aid police.
