Ritter announces immigration fingerprint program

DENVER — Gov. Bill Ritter on Tuesday approved the use of a divisive federal program that identifies illegal immigrants through the fingerprints of every person booked into jail, angering dozens of groups and lawmakers who argue it will lead to unjust deportations and racial profiling.

Ritter made the announcement with little fanfare, sending word of his decision by e-mail after several months of deliberation. It came one week before he's set to leave office.

Ritter said the Secure Communities program improves "public safety, national security and crime fighting," and Colorado will participate with some modifications, including quarterly reports and statistics so the state can assess how it is working.

The program run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement quickly references fingerprints against records from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, a capacity local jurisdictions don't immediately have.

Advocates for the program say it is an efficient and fair way of identifying illegal immigrants because everyone booked into a jail is screened.

"It can't lead to racial profiling. Everybody is run," Ritter, a Democrat, told The Associated Press.

ICE said in its proposed agreement with Colorado that it will protect victims who report crimes. However, the agency says it still has discretion over how to run Secure Communities.

Critics of Colorado's tailored agreement with ICE say other states include language explaining the goal of the program is to "remove aliens convicted of a serious criminal offense," but the word "serious" is absent from Colorado's accord.

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis said that means the program won't focus on the most serious criminals and that ICE "will be given the authority to remove anyone with impunity in Colorado, regardless of their level of criminality or finality of conviction."

More than 890 jurisdictions in 35 states have joined the program since 2007, and ICE has said it wants to have the system in every jail by 2013.

It could be days or weeks before Secure Communities is operational in Colorado. The initiative won't be immediately implemented statewide and will begin with a few counties, said Lance Clem, a spokesman for Colorado's Department of Public Safety. Denver, Arapahoe and El Paso have expressed interest in starting.