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Lewis & Clark County is one of the first counties in Montana to use a new biometric program to help identify criminal aliens.

The U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) began using the program in Montana on Tuesday; it helps federal immigration officials to identify both lawful and unlawful aliens living in the United States, who are in jail for various local crimes.

The fingerprint information submitted through the state to the FBI will be automatically checked against the FBI criminal history records and the biometrics-based immigration records.

If the person's finger prints match the one's in the Department of Homeland Security biometric system, ICE will be notified.

Immigration officials will then look at each case on an individual basis to determine a person's immigration status and then take appropriate action. The more serious crimes such as murder and drug offenses will be the priority.

This program is part of ICE's Secure Communities strategy to improve and modernize the identification and removal of criminal aliens from our country.

Missoula County is the only other Montana county using this new biometric technology. ICE officials say that they plan to make the new program available all over the nation by 2013.