DHS Secretary Johnson ends Secure Communities, launches Priority Enforcement Program

DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson issued a memorandum on November 20, 2014, formally ending Secure Communities and replacing it with the Priority Enforcement Program. Johnson acknowledged in the memo that the program had become a symbol of hostility toward immigrant communities and had driven a wedge between local police and the people they served. Under PEP, ICE narrowed detainer requests to immigrants convicted of enumerated serious crimes and replaced mandatory detention requests with notification requests in most cases.