News Releases
7 additional Ohio counties to benefit from ICE program to enhance identification and removal of aliens convicted of a crime
CANTON, Ohio – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday began using a federal information-sharing capability as part of the Secure Communities program in Auglaize, Carroll, Columbiana, Erie, Holmes, Medina and Mercer counties to help federal immigration officials 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," said Secure Communities Acting Assistant Director Marc Rapp. "As we expand ICE's use of biometric information sharing nationwide, we are helping to keep communities safe and ensuring the integrity of our immigration system."
With the expansion of the use of biometric information sharing to these seven counties, ICE is using this capability in 84 Ohio jurisdictions. Across the country, ICE is using this capability in 1,417 jurisdictions in 43 states and one U.S. territory. As a result of ICE's use of this enhanced information-sharing capability, which began in October 2008, ICE has removed more than 82,000 criminal aliens — more than 29,000 of whom were convicted of felonies such as murder, rape, kidnapping and the sexual abuse of children. ICE continues to work with its law enforcement partners across the country to responsibly and effectively implement this federal information sharing capability and plans to reach complete nationwide deployment by 2013...[Full Article]
