DHS launches information-sharing program with states

Knowledge is power, and DHS wants to share information with, and devolve power to, the state level. Next month the department will unveil an information-sharing program which aims to give local law enforcement access to federal immigration data. DHS and the FBI are working to combine their records on criminal and immigration offenders electronically in preparation for the move.

It is not a surprise that the program’s first phase will offer state and local law enforcement more access to immigration information. To assuage possible privacy concerns, the interaction with state and local law enforcement will be handled by the U.S. Department of Justice.

One example of information in federal hands flowing to the states is the information collected for he US-VISIT program. The program collects biometric information such as fingerprints and digital photographs from foreigners between the ages of 14 and 79 seeking entry into the United States. The system is already in place in 311 air and sea ports and U.S. consulates abroad. The program has so far led to the arrests of more than 1,350 wanted criminals, or people using false papers trying to enter the country.

-read more in this AP report

MORE: About eleven million illegal immigrants were living in the U.S. at the start of this year, the federal government said in a report released last Friday. This is a sharp increase from an estimated 8.5 million living in the country in January 2000. The office estimated that 10.5 million illegal immigrants were living in the United States in January 2005 and that the number grew at a national average of 408,000 a year.

In March the Pew Hispanic Center used Census Bureau data to estimate that the United States had 11.1 million illegal immigrants in March 2005. The center used monthly population estimates to project a total of 11.5 million to 12 million in March. Mexico is the largest contributing country of illegal immigrants, with nearly six million in the United States in 2005. El Salvador, Guatemala, India, and China followed with a combined contribution of about 1.4 million unauthorized immigrants.

The greatest increase in illegal immigrants in the country was among Mexicans, a jump of 260,000 from 2000 to 2005. The greatest percentage increase in the immigrant population in those years was among people from India, 133 percent, and Brazil, 70 percent. California had the largest illegal immigrant population with 2.8 million in January 2005, followed by Texas with 1.4 million and Florida with 850,000. APReport