DREXEL HILL, PA - Former U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan today announced his serious concerns with the proposed termination of the City of Philadelphia's agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that provides immigration authorities with the ability to access city arrest records to aid in its efforts to identify and deport convicted criminal illegal aliens.

 "As U.S. Attorney, my office worked to keep our streets safe by helping to deport illegal immigrants convicted of violent crimes, drugs, and other criminal behavior," said Pat Meehan. "The information contained in this database can enhance the ability to get violent illegal aliens off our streets. Restricting immigration enforcement authorities' access to this information would take a tool out of the toolbox of federal and local law enforcement."

 According to press reports, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents deported 6,350 illegal immigrants in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, up from 5,541 the prior year. 3,074 of those illegal aliens had a previous criminal conviction.

 "If people are here in our nation illegally and are committing violent crimes or engaging in other criminal behavior that threatens our communities, they should be convicted and deported," said Meehan. "This agreement between the City of Philadelphia and ICE offers a significant added capacity to keep our communities safe and deport criminals."

The City of Philadelphia has indicated it may allow its agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to expire on August 31. That agreement provides immigration enforcement agents with access to data on potential illegal immigrants through the city's Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System (PARS). ICE has stated that its desire to have access to PARS is to get convicted criminal illegal aliens off the streets.

 Human trafficking, illegal drug distribution and sophisticated fraud often cross county and state lines. Information developed in one jurisdiction can connect dots to crimes committed in another place. Matching things like aliases, tattoos or known associations are examples of investigative information in the city's PARS database that might close a loop to a criminal who has committed a serious crime elsewhere.

Meehan noted that it was his belief that a software fix could be implemented that would restrict ICE's access to information relating to victims and witnesses, addressing public safety concerns raised by some opponents. The city is right to be sensitive to victims and witnesses but with communication they might see that the focus is on violent and serious criminals and their identity need not be compromised.

PARS provides unique access to arrest records of all individuals, fingerprinted or not, which allows ICE to identify individuals arrested in Philadelphia who may be involved in violent crimes not only locally but in other parts of the country. There is a distinct and important difference between the information made available through the Secure Communities Program and the Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System (PARS). Secure Communities allows access to individuals who have been finger printed which tend to be immigrants who have begun the immigration process legally and have overstayed their visas or failed to renew them. In most cases criminal illegal aliens who avoid detection and cross our borders from a country such as Mexico are not finger printed and cannot be found in the information made available by Secure Communities.