Published on Sun, Feb 13, 2011
According to the Washington D.C. based non-profit Immigration Policy Center, when a person is arrested and booked into jail, "...his or her fingerprints are checked against the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology Program (US-VISIT), and the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT)...This fingerprint check allows state and local law enforcement and ICE automatically and immediately to search the databases for an individual’s criminal and immigration history."
When a match between the person and an immigration violation arises, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) and local law enforcement are notified, and a "detainer" or an order to hold the person arrested is issued, giving federal authorities jurisdiction over that individual, according to the Center's fact sheet.
Published in the Open Media Boston