Flaws in a Department of Homeland Security database have led to the faulty detention of a growing number of American citizens held on suspicion they are in the country illegally, The New York Times reported. Secure Communities, a federal program that gives local authorities access to a national immigration database, triggered alerts on at least 82 American citizens between 2006 and 2008. The Americans were held in local jails erroneously. A spate of new reports have recently surfaced as the Obama administration has stepped up its efforts to focus deportation resources on those who have committed crimes. Dual-citizenship, adoption and outdated records that didn't show an individual gained citizenship have triggered the faulty alerts. The program is on track to spread throughout the country by 2013.
