Orange County Jail to ID Immigrants for U.S. Government

The Orange County jail system debuted their new immigration check program on March 17, 2010. The process uses the Department of Homeland Security database to scan each inmate’s fingerprints. The scan detects those who have had “any contact with the immigration system [and] flags immigration officials” according to the Orange County Register. An immigration hold can then be placed on the person; ICE then has 40 hours to pick them up. The scan connects Orange County law enforcement to the federal database and will permit all of those taken in by the police to be checked against the data base. Prior to this new process, those arrested were only asked if they were foreign born. U.S. officials then verified the immigration status of the individuals born outside of the U.S. The purpose of this new program is to identify illegal immigrant criminals, inform immigration officials and then deport them to their country of origin according to executive director David Venturella.