LOS ANGELES — The American Civil Liberties Union says four U.S. citizens were erroneously arrested recently through a federal immigration enforcement program in Southern California.
The highly criticized Secure Communities program allows fingerprint analysis to identify illegal immigrants in county jails.
The ACLU says three Hispanic men were arrested and put on immigration holds after being processed through the program in November, and a fourth one went through the same process in July.
Two of the detained citizens say they plan to sue for their incarceration.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman says the cases cited by the ACLU are "highly unusual." She says the Secure Communities program is not designed and should not be used to detain U.S. citizens.
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