Law Enforcement Support Center
The Law Enforcement Support Center is a national enforcement operations facility administered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the largest investigative agency in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The center is a single national point of contact that provides timely customs information and immigration status and identity information and real-time assistance to local, state and federal law enforcement agencies on aliens suspected, arrested or convicted of criminal activity.
Located in Williston, Vt., the center operates around the clock – 365 days a year. State and local law enforcement officers seeking information about aliens are the center’s primary users.
The Law Enforcement Support Center also receives queries from federal, state and local correctional and court systems seeking information about individuals in custody or encountered elsewhere in the criminal justice system. Law enforcement officers have immediate access to alien records entered with the National Crime Information Center and immigration information from every alien file maintained by DHS – approximately 100 million records – by using the formatted immigration alien query screen incorporated within each state's law enforcement communications system.
LESC Services
In addition to providing immigration and identity information on suspected criminal aliens, the center offers other vital services, including:
- National Crime Information Center – The Law Enforcement Support Center administers and controls all ICE criminal and administrative records in this nationwide law enforcement consortium and criminal database. There are now more than 300,100 ICE records at the National Crime Information Center.
- Communications Center – The Law Enforcement Support Center operates a communications center that provides the National Crime Information Center hit confirmations (within 10 minutes) to law enforcement agencies 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition, center agents and specialists place immigration detainers on aliens wanted by ICE. The communications center also provides assistance on immigration alien queries, instant immigration status checks for ICE Officers and answers the dedicated law enforcement phone lines. A public affairs unit also responds to media calls during normal business hours.
- Special Response Tasks – The Law Enforcement Support Center is the central point of contact for a number of special information requests. For example, the center conducts “Brady checks” for the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System, screening the immigration status of foreign-born, non-citizen firearm permit applicants before authorizing purchase or possession of a weapon. Since October 2006, the center has performed 420,365 Brady checks for the FBI. It also provides daily assistance to the U.S. Secret Service by assisting in the screening of persons seeking to visit or work on the White House grounds. The center has helped the Secret Service screen 325,078 individuals since October 2006.
- Law Enforcement Training – The center offers an on-site training and outreach program that provides instruction on how to access Law Enforcement Support Center information and instruction on ICE's role and responsibilities. ICE 287(g) training includes a Law Enforcement Support Center training module presented by one of the center’s officers.
Significant Accomplishments for FY 2011
- The number of requests for information sent to the Law Enforcement Support Center increased from 4,000 in fiscal year 1996 to more than 1.2 million in fiscal year 2011, setting a new record for assistance to other law enforcement agencies.
- During fiscal year 2011, agents at the center placed 21,422 detainers on foreign nationals wanted by ICE for criminal and immigration violations.
- The records of more than 300,100 previously deported aggravated felons, immigration fugitives and wanted criminals are now in the National Crime Information Center system.
- Immigration enforcement agents at the center confirmed 6,703 National Crime Information Center hits during fiscal year 2011.
Some center accomplishments since October 2006 include:
- Over the past five and a half fiscal years, the center has responded to more than 5.6 million electronic queries.
- Since October 2006, the center has received more than 974,874 telephone calls on its dedicated law enforcement lines from law enforcement officers around the country seeking ICE information or assistance.
- The ICE special agents assigned to the center have lodged more than 109,981 immigration detainers against criminal and wanted aliens over the last five and a half fiscal years. Of those, at least 42,159 detainers were placed on criminals or fugitives who were National Crime Information Center hits.
- Viable leads are sent electronically to ICE field offices for action or investigation within 24 to 48 hours of the call.
