A federal program created after the 9/11 attacks allows immigration officials to track undocumented migrants in the country — even in sanctuary communities.
Community members in Chelsea raised questions after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents suddenly arrived at the city’s police station and detained high school-aged boys shortly after they were booked in two separate instances last month.
The federal program, created under President George Bush and expanded under President Barack Obama, gives ICE access to a national fingerprint database maintained by the FBI.
When local police make an arrest, fingerprints taken during the booking process are shared with the national database, alerting ICE to immigrants it seeks to deport.
Chelsea City Councilor Roberto Jimenez Rivera told MassLive that the city he represents has been “particularly hit hard” by ICE due to the policies the city has enacted around not assisting with immigration operations.
“We don’t hold people for immigration reasons, we do not ask about immigration status,” Jimenez Rivera said.
Last month, there were two separate instances when ICE arrived at the Chelsea police station to detain teenagers shortly after they were arrested. In one instance, teenagers were arrested by Chelsea police due to a BB gun being mistaken for a real gun, Jimenez Rivera said.
ICE detained three teenagers and the father of one of the teens at the police station, according to a news report by NBC Boston.
In another instance, a fight at a high school involving a knife led to the arrests of some students, and one of them was detained by ICE at the police station, NBC Boston reported.
Jimenez Rivera said it’s been a challenge to explain to the community how the process works since it’s “something that looks like a collaboration,” but that the city’s policies prevent police from carrying out immigration enforcement.
The city councilor explained that when ICE arrives at the police station to detain an individual who is being released, the individuals are brought to a “controlled space” where ICE agents can apprehend the person once they are done with the booking process.
Likewise, Jimenez Rivera said it’s a challenge to explain how ICE has access to the FBI’s national fingerprint database and that the city cannot opt out of it.
The Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. Neither did the Chelsea Police Department.
What is the FBI database?
Secure Communities is a federal information-sharing program run by the FBI that holds criminal records, fingerprints and biometrics, according to Laura Rotolo, senior advocacy director for field initiatives with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She specializes in immigrant rights.
The program allows the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, access to the FBI database.
“Anytime anyone is arrested anywhere in the country, their fingerprints are taken by the local police,” Rotolo said.
It is a common practice for police to upload the fingerprints to the FBI database, where police can learn about other information, such as any outstanding warrants, Rotolo said.
“It’s the fingerprints that are key here,” she said, because they are automatically shared with the Department of Homeland Security.
“(DHS) might have information that the person is of interest to them because they are deportable for whatever reason or because they have said that they are not a U.S. citizen,” Rotolo said.
“It’s very quick,” she said. “So they know if somebody’s arrested in Chelsea, that they are interested in detaining, they can show up at the Chelsea police department or court and detain that person. And that’s all done just by the simple act of taking the person’s fingerprints when they’re arrested.”
Rotolo said the program came after the post-9/11 restructuring of federal agencies and how they shared information.
Chelsea sues Trump administration over deportation efforts
The Trump administration ramped up deportations since January, and on May 30, it identified more than 500 communities, including Boston and 11 others in Massachusetts, as “sanctuary cities.”
But by Sunday, the administration had withdrawn the published list after pushback from the National Sheriffs’ Association.
“Sanctuary cities protect dangerous criminal illegal aliens from facing consequences and put law enforcement in grave danger,” the administration said in a press release. “DHS is committed to exposing these lawless jurisdictions to the public and making them accountable for not respecting the rule of law.”
The Trump administration has targeted cities such as Chicago, New York City and Boston for its immigration policies.
Other Massachusetts communities have felt the brunt of stepped-up deportation efforts.
“It’s been harsher on Chelsea,” Jimenez Rivera said. “I keep telling people, this isn’t about public safety, it’s about terrifying communities and making politics out of our people.”
Chelsea, along with Somerville, filed a federal lawsuit in February challenging the Trump administration’s “efforts to coerce them into participating in mass deportation efforts,” according to a press release.
The cities say that the administration’s threats to strip sanctuary cities of federal funding and prosecute them for “failing to bend to the president’s will” are unconstitutional.
Chelsea received about $14.5 million in federal funding for the 2024 fiscal year.
“We are really small, it’s easy to terrorize our people,” Jimenez Rivera said.
