Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders is urging the Obama administration to suspend a program that pairs federal immigration agents with local law enforcement officials to identify and deport undocumented immigrants.

Controversy Over PEP

In a letter co-authored with Democrat Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, Sanders petitions Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to drop the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP), which he says is very similar to the controversial Secure Communities program. Under PEP, federal immigration authorities work with local police to identify immigrants who should be deported from the country.

PEP was presented in November 2014 under President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration to replace the Secure Communities initiative, which received widespread criticism from immigration advocates. However, Sanders and Grijalva argue PEP intertwines local policing strategies with immigration enforcement at the federal level, which subsequently deters immigrants from contacting police to report crimes.

"We all share the goals of supporting local law enforcement's mission to promote community safety," Sanders and Grijalva wrote in the letter. "[But] we are concerned that the [Secure Communities'] failed policies continue unabated through PEP."

PEP vs. Secure Communities

Before it was discontinued, Secure Communities required local jails to bring immigrants into custody until immigration officials came to pick them up and deport them. Critics, however, say the program threatened constitutional rights.

Unlike Secure Communities, PEP does not require local authorities to hold people in detention until ICE agents can get them. Instead, it asks local jails to send U.S. immigration officials notice.

According to ICE's website, PEP uses biometric data to prioritize the deportation of detained immigrants who have been "convicted of an offense listed under the DHS civil immigration enforcement priorities, has intentionally participated in an organized criminal gang to further the illegal activity of the gang or poses a danger to national security."

In cities that had limited their cooperation with immigration authorities, federal officials "merely made minor stylistic changes to detainer requests," wrote Sanders and Grijalva, who endorsed the Vermont senator for president. "In remaining jurisdictions, it is our understanding that DHS continues the failed SCOMM program, albeit with a new name."

On the other hand, immigration officials defended the program, saying it keeps communities safer by targeting immigrants who have criminal records and who pose a threat to Americans or to national security.

"We are all safer when local law enforcement agencies have the trust and ability to work with immigrant communities," Sanders wrote in the letter.

"Victims of crime and domestic violence should not be afraid of being deported for calling the police. Giving a very problematic program a new name is not enough. We need new policies to ensure that immigrant communities are treated fairly."