California’s top prosecutor said Tuesday it’s up to local police agencies to decide whether to comply with federal government requests to hold illegal immigrants. The statement by state Attorney General Kamala Harris involves the federal Se Communities program, which was launched in 2008 to catch the worst criminal offenders. However, Harris said the effort is flawed because about-one third of people targeted by the requests in California have never committed a serious crime. The Se Communities program checks the immigration status of people who are arrested for any crime, and federal immigration officials have insisted local police agencies must honor all requests for detentions. Harris said her office has received dozens of inquiries from sheriffs and police chiefs confused about whether they must comply and hold detainees for up to 48 hours after they otherwise would have been released.
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