Steve Neavling

In yet another sign that the Obama administration is planning to revise its immigration-enforcement priorities, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said a controversial deportation program needs a “fresh start,” the Washington Post reports.

Johnson said the program, Secure Communities, needs some revision but should not be scrapped.

The program, which started during President George W. Bush’s tenure, seeks to identify undocumented immigrants by teaming up local law enforcement with federal authorities.

The program has come under fire by immigrant advocates who say undocumented immigrants with minor no prior criminal record were being arrested.

Loudoun County Jail

Salvador Portillo-Saravia, a member of the MS-13 street gang, was charged with raping an 8-year-old girl at her Fairfax County (Va.) home last month. But he never should have been in Fairfax in the first place.

Federal officials deported Portillo-Saravia, of Sterling, to El Salvador in 2003, and he sneaked back in illegally. Now, officials are wondering why a much-touted federal program didn’t catch him before the rape.

Four weeks before the crime, Portillo-Saravia was in the Loudoun County jail for public intoxication. That’s when the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program, called Secure Communities, should have identified him as an illegal immigrant and he should have been taken into custody.

Loudoun authorities ran Portillo-Saravia’s fingerprints through a federal database, but despite the 2003 deportation, nothing was found. He was released after 12 hours behind bars.

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