Ga. congressmen want more immigration enforcement

Graves signed letter asking why program rolling out elsewhere before Georgia


By Carolyn Crist


UPDATED: December 10, 2010 3:45 p.m.

Seven Georgia congressmen, including U.S. Rep. Tom Graves, are asking federal immigration officials to explain why other states are getting a new enforcement program before Georgia.

On Thursday, the representatives sent a letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement head John Morton to meet on Capitol Hill.

"Our question to you now is simple," states the letter signed by Graves. "Why would you utilize such valuable and seemingly scarce resources to fully activate Secure Communities in such states as Hawaii and West Virginia, whose total illegal immigrant populations are estimated at 35,000 and 10,000 respectively, before Georgia?"

The federal program Secure Communities, which allows officials to check fingerprint information of arrested individuals against FBI criminal records for immigration status, is used in nine of Georgia’s 159 counties, including Hall County.

Though the entire state should see the program by 2014, Georgia officials want to know why other states are getting the full program first.

Local sheriffs have praised the fingerprint checks, saying they help prevent criminals from deceiving them with aliases.

"Some effects we’ve seen, even pretty early on, were a reduction in the number of documented gang members in Hall County," Hall County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Col. Jeff Strickland said. "It has also helped to decrease the volume of illegal drugs coming into Hall County."

Under the Secure Communities program, the sheriff’s office was able to upgrade equipment to include the FBI database checks.

"In a partnership with ICE, we also sent several of our jail officers to specialized training," he said. "We always have someone with ICE training on duty at the Hall County Jail."


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