Border Patrol lauds new fingerprint scans that are detecting those who are wanted or have criminal records.

The Associated Press

PHOENIX - A computerized fingerprint system has helped U.S. Border Patrol agents in Arizona this year catch nearly four times more illegal immigrants with criminal or immigration records.
Since October, agents patrolling the Tucson sector have apprehended more than 10,700 people who were wanted by local authorities or were convicted of crimes or immigration violations, the Border Patrol stated.

During the previous fiscal year, which ended in September, 2,986 such immigrants were caught in the sector, which spans most of Arizona.

The crimes ranged from re-entering after being deported to drug possession, sexual assaults and murder.

Most people were detected by a digital fingerprint system that lets agents check criminal and immigration records by scanning fingers on both hands.

"It just kind of shows you what technology does," said Andy Adame, a Border Patrol spokesman in Tucson.

The system wasn't available to the entire Tucson sector until this year.

It was installed at the Border Patrol's busiest stations first, starting in 2001, Adame said.

With more than a month left in the fiscal year, agents in the Yuma sector have detained 1,956 people convicted of felonies and misdemeanors.

The figure is more than the 1,930 immigrants with criminal and immigration histories caught all of last fiscal year in the Yuma sector, which covers Arizona's southwest corner.

The increase comes from a surge in people apprehended in the sector, said Joe Brigman, supervisory Border Patrol agent in Yuma.

This year, Yuma sector agents have detained 83,991 illegal immigrants, a 64 percent jump from last fiscal year, Brigman said.

Agents working the Tucson sector have caught more than 439,011 people crossing illegally this fiscal year, also an increase compared to last year.

Some question just how many immigrants were flagged by the system because they were convicted of minor drug offenses or immigration charges such as entry without inspection, and not violent crimes.

When a person is deported, the order is final and those who re-enter can be prosecuted and sentenced to one to seven years in federal prison.

"We're talking about a situation they are just shamelessly exploiting in terms of public opinion," said Isabel Garcia, director of Derechos Humanos, a human rights group in Tucson. "They're attempting to say now they're catching all of these felons."

The publicity casts illegal immigrants as criminals when credible studies show immigrants are not involved in law breaking any more than the native-born population, Garcia said.