U.S. Considers Expanding FBI Database
Names of Noncrimimal Deportees and Student Visa Violators Would Be Added
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 17, 2003; Page A12


Homeland security officials want to add tens of thousands of illegal
immigrants and foreign students to an FBI database designed primarily to
help police apprehend wanted criminals, allowing them to instantly identify
foreign nationals who have been deported or have violated student visas.



The proposal -- part of a broad push by the Bush administration to more
closely monitor foreign nationals since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks -- is raising concerns among some civil liberties advocates and law
enforcement groups that fear it will bring police heavily into the business
of apprehending immigration violators who have committed no serious crimes.
In some cases, they said, that could violate state rules that prohibit
police from enforcing federal immigration laws.

Spokesman Jorge Martinez stressed that the Justice Department has not yet
made a decision on the plan.

Under the proposal, the FBI's main fugitive database would be expanded to
include the names of 140,000 immigrants who are deported each year for
noncriminal reasons, officials said. An unknown number return to the country
and are here illegally. Authorities also would add the names of thousands of
foreign students who do not show up for class or otherwise violate their
visas.

The FBI's database, known as the National Crime Information Center (NCIC),
includes the names of more than 40 million felons, fugitives, missing
persons and others being sought by law enforcement agencies. It is used by
more than 80,000 law enforcement agencies.

The database had been expanded to include immigrants who were deported for
felony crimes, failed to show up for deportation hearings, or registered
during a special program aimed at visa holders from Muslim nations that was
implemented after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

But adding the names of noncriminals who were deported and student visa
violators would significantly expand the number of foreign nationals on the
list, officials said.

"It's adding more information out there," one Department of Homeland
Security official said. "The last thing we want is for an encounter to
occur, they can't do something and then this person commits a crime or
something else that is detrimental to the community."

Three of the Sept. 11, 2001, attackers entered the United States on student
visas, including one, Hani Hanjour, who never showed up for classes. Hanjour
was ticketed for speeding in Arlington six weeks before he piloted the
airplane that crashed into the Pentagon.

The proposal comes at the same time that President Bush is beginning to
revive an immigration proposal that would allow some people illegally in the
United States to work toward legal status.

Even before the latest proposal, several major law enforcement groups have
raised serious concerns about the inclusion of immigration violators in the
FBI's criminal database. And the American Civil Liberties Union is expected
to file a lawsuit as early as today challenging the practice.

"This is another step in what appears to be the Justice Department's
calculated plan to try to obliterate the separation between criminal law
enforcement and immigration status violations," said Lucas Guttentag of the
ACLU's Immigrants Rights Project.

Many states and localities prohibit police from enforcing civil immigration
laws or even inquiring about an individual's immigration status, often
because of state constitutional concerns. Many police officers say they are
wary of detaining immigration violators without a warrant for fear a court
could hold them accountable for an unlawful arrest.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police has urged the federal
government to limit the database to individuals who have warrants for their
arrest and to issue clear guidelines for local law enforcement. A committee
of police chiefs that advises the FBI's database division recently raised
similar concerns about the proposed expansion.

"We want to help if it's somebody DHS believes is a threat to the country,"
said Bill Casey, deputy superintendent of the Boston Police Department, who
chairs the advisory committee. "But our position is that you have to have a
warrant on the individual."

The issue is also part of a broader debate over the proper role of local
police, many of whom fear that illegal immigrants will stop reporting crime
if they cannot trust law enforcement and that relations with Hispanics will
be strained if police are seen as an arm of federal immigration authorities.

"There's this issue, which is dealing with NCIC, and the broader issue of
law enforcement getting into the business of enforcing immigration, which is
a philosophical problem," said Gene Voegtlin, legislative counsel for the
police chiefs' association. "It's an area state and local law enforcement
hasn't been involved in before, and it's an area that is yet to be
resolved."

The Justice Department issued an internal legal opinion last year arguing
that states and localities have the "inherent authority" to enforce civil
and criminal violations of immigration law, sources have said. Alabama and
Florida have begun pilot projects that allow troopers in those states to
enforce immigration laws, and bills to widen the practice are pending in
Congress.

_________________________________________________________________
Worried about inbox overload? Get MSN Extra Storage now!
http://join.msn.com/?PAGE=features/es

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~