ICE Terminates Secure Communities MOAs, Reaffirms Nationwide Rollout by 2013
On Friday, August 5, 2011, DHS Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that it has determined that no state act or permission is required to activate or operate Secure Communities in any jurisdiction. DHS’s position is that once a state or local law enforcement agency voluntarily submits fingerprint data to the federal government, no Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) is legally required for one part of the federal government to share the data with another part. Therefore, ICE terminated all existing MOAs. ICE also announced that it plans to activate Secure Communities nationwide by 2013.
ICE notified state governors of its decision via written letter and provided a list of frequently asked questions about the Secure Communities program and the impact of the program change.