Fingerprints help catch illegal aliens

AUSTIN (KXAN) - A national push to reform immigration enforcement has started in the Travis County Jail after Travis County officials began linking their fingerprint databases of suspected criminals coming into the jail with federal authorities last month.

The program, called Secure Communities, connects Travis County's fingerprint system with five federal databases including Homeland Security and FBI .

Travis County Sheriff spokesman Roger Wade said the program will help immigration officers cut down on the time spent interviewing jail residents who lie on their citizenship screenings when they come into the jail.

Immigrants' rights groups are expressing concern over the newly implemented system, saying it can lead to numerous cases of mistaken identity from errors within the database systems. They also said the increased scrutiny leads to less crime reported.

"When an arrest for a traffic violation can lead to an encounter with ICE, immigrants will simply not risk contact with local law enforcement, even victims and witnesses of serious crimes will avoid reporting those crimes," said Caroline Keating-Guerra, Immigrants Rights Coalition coordinator.

Ramey Ko, chairman of the Austin Commission on Immigrant Affairs , said he has heard similar stories. Ko will update the Commission Wednesday on the program inside the jails.

"I hear regularly from people, 'If you’ve been attacked don’t call the police,'" said Ko. "People are afraid to call the police for help."

Travis County Major Darren Long said those reports aren't necessarily just linked to immigration, saying people are afraid to report crimes for any type of reason. 

Long said he has seen no statistics backing claims that victims are not reporting crimes.

"I don't think it's having any negative affects on victims or witnesses that I know of," Long said.

The fingerprinting program started June 15 in Travis County, though U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has tested the program in several different U.S. cities.

The program is in addition to the Criminal Alien Program started last year in Travis County, which drew criticism from various community and immigrants rights groups.

"Our goal with this ICE effort is to use information sharing to prevent criminal aliens from being released back into the community, with little or no additional burden on our local law enforcement partners," said ICE Spokeswoman Nina Pruneda

ICE's Secure Communities Web site said it tries to prioritize immigration enforcement on the most dangerous criminals, reducing disruption to law-abiding immigrant families and communities.