SAN FRANCISCO, June 18 (UPI) -- Critics of the government's Secure Communities program to remove dangerous illegal immigrants from the United States say it hurts too many innocent people.
The Obama administration is apparently listening to critics of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement program and Friday announced changes to prevent immigrants with no criminal record from being deported, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday.
"We need to do a better job of ensuring that the program is more focused on targeting those that pose the biggest risk to communities," said ICE Director John Morton.
Under the program, local jails across the U.S. are required to forward arrestees' fingerprints to immigration officials.
ICE said it would "exercise appropriate discretion" to avoid such deportations. Victims of domestic violence are sometimes are swept up by police along with their abusers, the Chronicle said.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Friday said the department has issued new guidelines to stop immigration officers from deporting those who are arrested while reporting a crime, or who are witnesses in a possible criminal investigation or trial.
The Los Angeles Times Saturday reported Obama is facing increasing pressure from some within the Democratic Party to end the program.
A group of California members of Congress last week called on Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown to denounce the program.
Brown supported Secure Communities when he was state attorney general, but he hasn't commented on the law since becoming governor.
