Carroll County Joins Feds in Anti-Terror Effort

Carroll County has joined a federal initiative in which Sheriff's officials will enter fingerprints of those arrested in the county into a national database that identifies "criminal aliens," potential terrorists and others deemed a threat to public safety, Carroll County Sheriff Kenneth Tregoning announced.

At a press conference Wednesday, Tregoning explained that Carroll County has joined the Secure Communities Initiative, making it the sixth Maryland jurisdiction to become active in the program.

According to a Carroll County Sheriff's Department news release, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activated an electronic link that will match the fingerprints of everyone arrested in Carroll County with the database identifying foreign-born residents with criminal records, potential terrorists and other individuals who could be threatening.

ICE Field Office Director Calvin McCormick said Secure Communities is ICE's strategy to improve and modernize the identification and removal of aliens convicted of a crime from the United States. McCormick said the initiative relies on fingerprinting and information-sharing technology.

ICE is already using this capability in Baltimore, Frederick, Prince George's, Queen Anne and St. Mary's counties. Nationally, ICE is using this capability in 868 jurisdictions in 35 states. 

In a nutshell, Secure Communities is a process in which individuals detained at the local level will have fingerprints taken and run through the databases of several different federal agencies including the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI.

According to an ICE news release, if fingerprints match those of someone in DHS' biometric fingerprinting system, the automated process notifies ICE. ICE evaluates each case to determine the individual's immigration status, including identifying those who are in lawful status and those who are designated here illegally.

"The Secure Communities strategy provides ICE with an effective tool to identify criminal aliens in local custody," said David Venturella, Secure Communities assistant director, in a news release. "Enhancing public safety is at the core of ICE's mission. Our goal is to use biometric information sharing to remove criminal aliens, preventing them from being released back into the community, with little or no additional burden on our law enforcement partners."

"Let's stay ahead of this issue," Commissioner Richard Rothschild (4th District), told reporters. "I think the people of Carroll County will be pleased that we're doing this."

Tregoning stressed that the program will cost Carroll County virtually nothing and will strengthen the relationship that Carroll already shares with ICE.

McCormick said that without using biometrics (fingerprints), it can be difficult—if not impossible—to verify the identity of a foreign-born individual. He said another benefit of the initiative is that law enforcement officials no longer have to rely on statements from individuals concerning their identity.

"This is a process that will insure that no one is released back into our community that is of interest to ICE, that has committed a crime, is here illegally, or more importantly, is on the terror watch list," said Tregoning.