ICE: Fall in jail deportees tied to fewer migrants


By Daniel GonzálezThe Republic | azcentral.comThu Nov 1, 2012 10:32 PM

Since taking over the job of screening inmates at the Maricopa County jails nearly a year ago, federal immigration officials have deported far fewer criminals than in previous years, when immigration screenings were performed by the Sheriff’s Office.

But U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say the drop reflects an overall decrease in illegal immigration, not a lack of commitment to conducting immigration screenings in the jail system.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio and County Attorney Bill Montgomery also say they no longer have any major concerns with ICE’s handling of the program, in which agents check the legal status of every person booked into jail with the goal of deporting immigrants who commit serious crimes.

Arpaio and Montgomery had initially criticized the Department of Homeland Security, saying it wasn’t living up to its commitment to dedicate 50 ICE officers to conduct the immigration screenings at the jails after stripping the duties from the Sheriff’s Office.

ICE has placed immigration holds on more than 4,936 immigrants booked into the jails since taking over immigration screenings last December, ICE officials said. So far, those holds have resulted in the removal of 926 criminal immigrants from Dec. 16, 2011, through Sept. 15 of this year, the agency said.

The number of deportations is markedly lower from previous years, when the screenings were being performed by the Sheriff’s Office as part of an agreement with ICE.

ICE officials say the decrease is part of a trend that correlated with a significant decrease in illegal immigration overall in Arizona.

Since hitting a high of 12,555 in fiscal 2008, the number of immigrants in the county deported through the program, known as 287(g), has been steadily decreasing, according to ICE statistics. In fiscal 2009, ICE deported 8,585 immigrants through the program, followed by 5,327 in 2010 and 3,092 in 2011.

In fiscal 2012, ICE deported 1,434 immigrants, including 508 from Oct. 1 until Dec. 16, when the immigration screenings were still being conducted by the Sheriff’s Office, and the 926 when ICE took over the screenings.

Border Patrol apprehensions, a measure of illegal-immigrant traffic, totaled 123,285 in the Tucson Sector, which covers most of Arizona, in fiscal 2011, down from 378,239 in fiscal 2007. Statistics for fiscal 2012, which ended Sept. 30,have not been released yet.

Until last December, the Sheriff’s Office had been performing immigration screenings at the jails as part of an agreement with ICE that allows local jail officers to assist in federal immigration enforcement.

As part of the screenings, jail officers had access to Homeland Security databases, which they used to run checks to determine whether people being booked into the jails were immigration violators.

Homeland Security, however, abruptly terminated the Sheriff’s Office’s participation in the program after a U.S. Justice Department report accused the Sheriff’s Office of violating civil rights and discriminating against Latino residents and inmates.

After rescinding the agreement, Homeland Security announced it would dedicate 50 ICE officers to perform immigration screenings at the jails to replace the 60 jail officers from the Sheriff’s Office who had been performing the screenings on behalf of ICE. Shortly afterward, however, Arpaio and Montgomery accused Homeland Security and ICE of failing to send the 50 ICE officers as promised and raised concerns that some illegal immigrants would be released onto the streets as a result.
ICE has since dedicated 50 officers to provide “24/7 coverage” of the jails, said Amber Cargile, an ICE spokeswoman in Phoenix. The agents are not all there at the same time and rotate in and out as needed.
She said in a statement that “while that number may fluctuate due to operational priorities, ICE officers continue to physically screen every individual booked into the Maricopa County detention system.”

Arpaio, meanwhile, said he no longer has any problems with the job ICE is doing at the jails.

“As far as we are concerned, the program is working OK,” Arpaio said.

Arpaio agreed that overall illegal immigration is down and that thousands of illegal immigrants have left. He attributed the decrease to tougher immigration enforcement, though experts have said the downturn in the economy has also been a major factor.

Before ICE took over the program, sheriff’s officers were placing holds on about 15 to 20 inmates a day. The holds ensure that immigrants charged with crimes are turned over to ICE for possible deportation after going through the criminal-justice system rather than being released onto the street. But after taking over the program, ICE officers placed holds on only two inmates during the first two weeks, prompting complaints from Arpaio and Montgomery.

Brian Lee, a deputy director with the Sheriff’s Office, said ICE is again averaging about 15 to 20 holds a day.

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