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Electronic Frontier Foundation Opposes S-Comm

By immigrationprof

From the Electronic Frontier Foundation:

EFF joined the Rights Working Group and 65 advocacy organizations in sending letters opposing the Secure Communities Program in preparation for the Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement hearing on the issue back in November.

Under Secure Communities, local law enforcement agencies have lost control over the data they collect for purely local purposes. They are required to submit fingerprints and detailed information on all individuals they arrest to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which then sends a copy of the data to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  ICE then checks the immigration status of the individuals, and moves to deport those who do not have appropriate residency standing.  Notably, individuals can be arrested, fingerprinted, and deported even if they are not convicted of a crime. For example, individuals engaged in civil disobedience at a protest rally but whose charges are later dismissed or individuals who are wrongfully arrested due to racial discrimination or false evidence could find their fingerprint data collected and face potential deportation. In fact, ICE reports that 21% of the program’s deportees were never convicted of a crime, contrary to the due process principles that are fundamental to the American legal system.

In its letter to the Subcommittee, EFF raised concerns that the Secure Communities Program fails to meet the standards of the Fair Information Practice Principles: Framework for Privacy Policy at the Department of Homeland Security (FIPPS). These principles create a foundation to ensure that the Department of Homeland Security will uphold the privacy rights of individuals even when conducting investigations of importance to national security.  DHS is responsible for overseeing the Secure Communities Program, and thus the entire program should adhere to the FIPPs.  More broadly, the FIPPs provide a framework for the collection and usage of personal information generally, and can be seen as guiding principles for government and nongovernmental agencies dealing with sensitive personal information in a wide range of circumstances.

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