Illegal immigration has been an ongoing problem to which many people have offered solutions; some worked better than others. Secure Communities is a program that was implemented in 2008 and caused serious controversy due to the mandatory nature of the program's new policy. This paper will review an article titled Federal Immigration Enforcement Is Mandatory, Memo Says. Furthermore, the pros, cons and various implications will be examined. Article Summary In 2008, a program called Safe Communities was launched to focus on the illegal immigration of “convicted serious criminals” (Esquivel, 2012, p. 1). In this program, the FBI shares county jail fingerprints with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Some local and state leaders found that many immigrants caught in the system had no criminal records or had low-level crimes (Esquivel, 2012). When the program was first created, federal officials, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and Deputy Attorney General Ronald Welch said that state and local officials could opt out of the program. Three states have withdrawn or suspended their participation. It has been two years since the Secure Communities program was implemented to enforce immigration law. Recently, a memo written on October 2, 2010 was made public stating that law enforcement agencies that did not want to participate or wanted limited participation in the program would no longer be able to make that decision because the program is mandatory. The information-sharing process will be streamlined and some other aspects that would allow states to opt out will be eliminated, making the program essentially "mand… middle of paper… in the middle, community policing suffers and people they are afraid to report crimes. The biggest obvious problem is the inability to opt out of the program, as it will be mandatory in 2013. Works Cited Esquivel, P. (2012, January 8). says the note. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/08/local/la-me-ice-foia-20120109Preston, J. (2011, June 6). immigration is rejected by the third state. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/us/politics/07immig.html?_r=1The New York Times (2012, March 12). Retrieved from http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/immigration-and-emigration/index.htmlU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). (2012). Safe communities. Retrieved from http://www.ice.gov/secure_communities/