Washingtonpost.com yesterday reported the Obama administration is expanding a program to make the checking of immigration status a routine measure during local jail bookings.  The result, it’s suggested, could be a tenfold increase in illegal immigrants identified for deportation.

Our hands-on experience suggests that this practice has been in effect for at least some weeks prior to the administration’s announcement, and that in some areas, police are questioning immigration status during minor violations, such as a traffic stop.  Even passengers, not subject to arrest for the traffic violation, are being questioned and held for potential immigration violations. 

Our recommendation:  Don’t answer immigration status questions without the guidance and/or presence of an attorney.

While the Post reports Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano “has made it ‘very clear’ that her top priority is deporting illegal immigrants who have committed crimes,” the practice we’ve seen also targets many who have committed no crime, and carry valid drivers’ licenses issued by their state of residence.

Furthermore, since the program involves matching fingerprints from all bookings in local jails with immigration databases maintained by Homeland Security, it is designed to identify what authorities call “criminal aliens.”  However, since it’s based on arrests and not convictions, and these arrests are being made for such so-called “violations” as being a passenger during a vehicle stop, it appears to be a guise for a general round-up of anyone who speaks with a foreign accent.  We think this crosses the line.