Homeland Security`s `Secure Communities` Didn`t Intentionally Deceive, Report Says

WASHINGTON — Two years ago, the Department of Homeland Security began an immigration enforcement program called Secure Communities, designed to find undocumented immigrants who had been arrested by local police. Homeland Security explained how jurisdictions could remove themselves from the initiative, at least temporarily, and confirmed to local officials that they could opt out if they wish.

But when states and localities tried to opt out, they were told they couldn`t. Homeland Security officials seemed to switch the definition of “opt out” and then admitted they planned to expand the program nationwide by 2013, whether state and county leaders liked it or not.

None of this amounted to “intentionally” misleading the public, according to a report released on Friday by Charles K. Edwards, Homeland Security`s acting inspector general. The report, in response to Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a critic of the program, kept the department line on Secure Communities: The agency handled the expansion of the initiative badly, but they stand behind it.

Secure Communities is a centerpiece of the President Barack Obama administration`s immigration enforcement efforts, and is partially credited with the record number of deportations in the 2011 fiscal year. The program takes fingerprints from arrests by local police and shares them with Homeland Security to catch undocumented immigrants. It has been criticized for hurting community policing, netting non-criminals and potentially encouraging racial profiling.

The report confirmed, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have many times before, that the Secure Communities program will continue. The Homeland Security inspector general instructs ICE to create standard guidelines, improve messaging by leadership and write a “lessons learned” document detailing what went wrong. ICE is in the process of making those changes, the report states.

It also says the agency misled the public — but not intentionally.

“[C]onfusion within the agency regarding intent and participation led ICE to misinform and confuse stakeholders and the media,” the report states. “Initial confusion may have stemmed from the short timeframe to implement Secure Communities. … However, once questions and concerns arose, senior leadership within ICE and in one instance the department continued to exacerbate the problem by providing unclear and conflicting responses to inquiries and concerns. As a result, Secure Communities continues to face opposition, criticism, and resistance in some locations.”

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