Database identifies criminal immigrants

WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- A new program giving U.S law enforcement agencies access to federal fingerprint files has identified about 111,000 criminal immigrants, the government says.

The federal program allows police departments to search federal immigration records and FBI criminal databases to help remove violent immigrants from the country, The Arizona Republic reported.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Thursday the program, begun in October 2008, helps identify immigrants charged with, or convicted of, crimes so they can be deported if they are here illegally, and legal immigrants can be deported if they have committed a serious crime. The U.S. government fingerprints all legal immigrants, the officials said.

Deporting the most violent criminals is the primary aim of the program. Since it began, 1,911 immigrants charged with, or convicted of, crimes such as murder, rape and kidnapping have been deported, immigration officials said.

"It enables (us) to identify and remove more criminal aliens, and those are the individuals that pose more threat to our communities," Vincent Picard, an immigration spokesman in Phoenix, said.