Since the original post on Secure Communities, I was able to speak to Steven Means, executive assistant in the state Department of Justice. As he explains it, local law enforcement agencies are required by state law to send DOJ fingerprints of inmates charged with certain crimes, and the state is required to make that information available to federal law enforcement on request.

And since all that is set by existing state law, nothing much is different under Secure Communities than before it, he says, calling the agreement "more form than substance."

Local agencies can't tell the state what to do with the information after they send it, says Means. But they are not required to send DOJ fingerprints of everybody who enters the jail, only those charged with specified offenses that Means calls "more serious crimes." Look here to see the statute, which specifies felonies, as well as quite a few misdemeanors, including sex crimes, weapons offenses, gambling and offenses involving burglary tools.