Immigrant ID pilot program tried in Boston

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.09.2006

WASHINGTON — Immigration officials will automatically be notified anytime the local or state police do a federal fingerprint check on a suspect who is also wanted for serious immigration violations, under a new system being tested in Boston.

The automated notification is part of a Department of Homeland Security program that could expand the role that local and state police nationwide play in the immigration-enforcement effort.

To federal officials, it is a natural next step. Police forces have hundreds of thousands of officers who routinely come into contact with illegal immigrants, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a squad of only about 6,000 criminal investigators.

The new program has started off in a relatively modest way. When the Boston Police Department does a fingerprint check of federal criminal records for crime suspects, it will also check a Homeland Security Department database of 420,000 people who have violated immigration laws. The federal list includes people who have been previously deported from the United States or tried to enter but were denied a visa.

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