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Secure Communities Program Under A Lot of Heat

Written by KEYT Anchor

Story Created: Sep 29, 2011 at 11:31 PM PDT

Story Updated: Sep 30, 2011 at 12:10 PM PDT

Santa Barbara - Pueblo, a non-profit organization, hosted a community forum Thursday night with Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown on the controversial deportation program "Secure Communities" and it's impact on public safety in Santa Barbara.

The program was started in 2008 as a way to find and deport serious criminals, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) statistics reveal that seven out of 10 of the 47,000 Californians deported through the program were low level offenders or presumed innocent.

Under S-Comm, fingerprints of all arrestees booked into local jails are cross-checked with federal immigration officials. If there is a "hit" in a database, ICE is automatically notified, even if the person hasn't been convicted of any criminal act.

Many in the community feel it brings about racial profiling, but Sheriff Brown rejects the notion.

KEY News Reporter Shirin Rajaee reports.
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