DPS Now Offers Immigrant Status Checks

HOUSTON (AP) _ An illegal immigrant charged with capital murder for the death of Houston police officer Henry Canales in June had at least eight aliases and multiple arrests in California.

But a newspaper report Sunday says if 41-year-old Andres Maldonado Nava had been booked into a Houston jail on any Class C misdemeanor before the officer’s death, the fingerprint check system wouldn’t have shown any of his criminal or immigration history.

The Houston Chronicle reported Sunday that offenders booked on Class C offenses are fingerprinted but aren’t checked against state or national databases, only against Houston police and Harris County databases.

For the first time, the Texas Department of Public Safety started accepting on Sept. 8 the fingerprints of suspects facing Class C misdemeanor charges.

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