Perry Asks US to Share Illegal Immigrants' Data

by Houston Chronicle

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has requested that top Department of Homeland Security officials resolve “vulnerabilities” that have allowed illegal immigrants to hold onto valid Texas driver’s licenses and slip undetected through the state’s jails.

Perry asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano this week to take a series of steps to improve information-sharing between federal, state and local law enforcement. The Homeland Security-related issues “seriously affect public safety in Texas,” Perry wrote earlier this week in a letter to Napolitano.

A spokeswoman for Napolitano, Sara Kuban, said Napolitano would respond directly to Perry and declined to comment on the specific issues raised in the letter.

The governor’s requests include:

• Giving all Texas jails access to a database that automatically checks suspects’ immigration history. So far, 19 of the 252 jails in the state with electronic fingerprint booking participate in the program, including the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and Houston Police Department.....