While Washington lawmakers remain mired in the seemingly intractable problem of dealing with illegal immigration, the Obama administration has just logged the largest number of deportations in history.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says more than 392,000 illegal immigrants were deported from the United States in fiscal year 2010, which ended Sept. 30.
That’s 3,000 more deportations than the previous record, set in 2009.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement attributes the spike in deportations to a combination of stepped-up border enforcement and an expansion of the department’s Secure Communities program, according to the Los Angeles Times.
We’ve advocated for expanding Secure Communities to Colorado, and hope Napolitano’s results help spur increased participation in the program.
We have urged Gov. Bill Ritter to sign off on a plan that would allow Colorado jurisdictions to join the program, but he has yet to do so. Presently, Denver and Arapahoe and El Paso counties wish to do so.
Secure Communities works by having officials check the immigration status of anyone arrested and booked into jail. Those jailed have their fingerprints checked against immigration records. When a person is determined to be in the country illegally, ICE is alerted.
From there, ICE prioritizes those accused of more serious crimes for deportation. ICE is focused on those who pose a national security or public safety threat.
The Secure Communities program has expanded from 14 cities in 2008 to more than 660. Napolitano wants to expand it to all jurisdictions by 2013.
Colorado obviously has a host of challenges due to illegal immigration, yet Ritter is being Ritter and examining all of its aspects before acting.
Yes, it is appropriate for the governor to hear the concerns of critics who worry about profiling. But profiling already is illegal, and law enforcement agencies already have in place safeguards meant to preclude it.
If Ritter doesn’t act before he leaves office, we urge his successor to quickly do so. We have no doubt Tom Tancredo would sign on, and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper indicated to us that he’d support it.
Having said that, we acknowledge that Secure Communities is only one tool, and it alone is far from perfect.
The limitations underscore the need for Congress to deal with immigration in a comprehensive way.
