CQ reported that: An Alabama Republican is taking the Obama administration to task for its decision to suspend the implementation of a controversial deportation program in his state.
Robert B. Aderholt, who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, sent a letter Tuesday to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano urging her to continue rolling out the Secure Communities program in Alabama.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program matches fingerprints taken during arrests by state and local law enforcement officials with those on file in immigration databases to determine whether the suspects are in the country illegally and eligible for deportation. The program has been criticized by immigration advocates and some local officials who say it makes it harder for local police to build trust in immigrant communities.
As of Jan. 10, Secure Communities has been implemented in two-thirds of the country's local jurisdictions, including 37 of Alabama's 67 counties, and Homeland Security officials are working to expand it nationwide by the end of next year.
"But because of the Justice Department's challenge to a tough new anti-immigration law in the state, the Department of Homeland Security has decided to indefinitely suspend the rollout of the program in the state," Aderholt said.
In his letter, Aderholt said the decision was politically motivated.
"The decision to delay deployment in Alabama, a state that enacted its own «immigration enforcement law due to concerns about the federal government's failure to enforce the law, is incomprehensible and gives additional evidence to those very concerns," he wrote.
A Department of Homeland Security official said the nationwide implementation deadline had not been pushed back but did not specifically address the Alabama rollout.
"ICE continues to work with its law enforcement partners in Alabama and across the country to responsibly and effectively implement this federal information-sharing capability and plans to reach complete nationwide activation by the end of 2013," the official said.
Robert B. Aderholt, who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, sent a letter Tuesday to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano urging her to continue rolling out the Secure Communities program in Alabama.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program matches fingerprints taken during arrests by state and local law enforcement officials with those on file in immigration databases to determine whether the suspects are in the country illegally and eligible for deportation. The program has been criticized by immigration advocates and some local officials who say it makes it harder for local police to build trust in immigrant communities.
As of Jan. 10, Secure Communities has been implemented in two-thirds of the country's local jurisdictions, including 37 of Alabama's 67 counties, and Homeland Security officials are working to expand it nationwide by the end of next year.
"But because of the Justice Department's challenge to a tough new anti-immigration law in the state, the Department of Homeland Security has decided to indefinitely suspend the rollout of the program in the state," Aderholt said.
In his letter, Aderholt said the decision was politically motivated.
"The decision to delay deployment in Alabama, a state that enacted its own «immigration enforcement law due to concerns about the federal government's failure to enforce the law, is incomprehensible and gives additional evidence to those very concerns," he wrote.
A Department of Homeland Security official said the nationwide implementation deadline had not been pushed back but did not specifically address the Alabama rollout.
"ICE continues to work with its law enforcement partners in Alabama and across the country to responsibly and effectively implement this federal information-sharing capability and plans to reach complete nationwide activation by the end of 2013," the official said.
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