Thread: Illegals fill jail that Metro plan is based on

http://www.fairviewobserver.com/apps/pb ... 321/MTCN06

Monday, 09/25/06

Illegals fill jail that Metro plan is based on
Federal authorities can't process N.C. detainees fast enough

By CHRISTIAN BOTTORFF
Staff Writer


Illegal immigrants facing criminal charges are crowding a North Carolina jail that serves as the model for Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall's plan to hold such immigrants here for deportation hearings.

The Charlotte, N.C., jail is full because federal authorities can't pick up inmates facing deportation hearings quickly enough, the Mecklenburg County sheriff said in a congressional hearing last month.

The jail is overflowing with inmates as a result of a new program that puts deportation holds on people who are identified as illegal immigrants when they pass through the county lockup.

Nashville has applied for computer hardware, training and other support that would help local jailers do the same.

But in testimony Aug. 25 before Congress, Mecklenburg County Sheriff Jim Pendergraph said the federal government has been overwhelmed by the demand for pickups and transfers of illegal immigrants to federal facilities.

"So many illegal immigrant criminals have been identified through my ... program, it is causing me a jail space problem," Pendergraph said.

"(The) Removal and Detention Division of (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is overwhelmed by the numbers we are generating for removal in Mecklenberg County alone."

Still, Pendergraph said, "I'd recommend (this program) to every sheriff in the U.S."

"It is getting people out of our community who are committing crimes who had no business being here anyway.

"We certainly don't need any more lawbreakers in our community, especially among people who are in the country illegally."

Since May, Pendergraph said, federal officials have removed 550 people for deportation proceedings, many of whom would not otherwise have been identified.

Under the program, federal immigration computers and a full-time immigration officer are placed at local jails, allowing specially trained deputies to check the immigration status of every prisoner.

Hall sent a letter Aug. 15 to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security seeking to bring the program to the Metro Jail.

The request came after several high-profile crimes in the Midstate this year involving illegal immigrants. In several cases, the illegal immigrants had been arrested several times — and not deported — before going on to commit more serious crimes.

Nashville now sends notice to federal authorities in Vermont each time a foreign-born person is booked. Federal authorities are supposed to research the inmate's immigration status and request that a hold be placed, ensuring that the prisoner remains in custody until he can be turned over to immigration officers.

But those holds are being requested in only a fraction of cases, those in which the inmate's crime is at least an aggravated felony, Hall has said.

Thus, in the majority of arrests involving illegal immigrants, no hold is placed and the inmates are released from custody despite their immigration status.

By putting immigration computers and a full-time immigration officer in the Metro Jail, local deputies would have the ability to check every prisoner's immigration status during booking and place holds on those in the country illegally.

Those prisoners would then be held in the Metro Jail until they could be picked up by immigration officers for deportation proceedings.

But it remains unclear whether federal authorities will be able to sufficiently increase their capacity to pick up illegal immigrants from Nashville. During the past fiscal year, immigration holds were placed on 151 inmates, jail officials said. Under the new program, sheriff's officials estimate roughly 3,000 inmates will be identified for deportation each year.

Hall said there are 400 available jail beds in Davidson County, so he doesn't believe that keeping illegal immigrants in the county system longer would lead to crowding in the near term.

And the sheriff said local officials have little choice but to find a way to keep illegal immigrants who commit crimes off the streets.

"I'm not concerned about them being removed in a timely way, given that we have 400 beds," Hall said, adding, "We have to cross all that when we get there."

Local officials also hope that the increased immigration enforcement will act as a deterrent, reducing the number of illegal immigrants who pass through Nashville's lockup, Hall said.

In an interview last week, Pendergraph, the Mecklenburg County sheriff, said the crowding in Charlotte has begun to ease a bit after the federal government increased the number of bus trips taking inmates to deportation hearings from once to twice a week.

Also, a 1,500-inmate facility in Georgia has been approved to house immigration detainees beginning in October, and Pendergraph said he is hopeful that will relieve the crowding further.

The demand for capacity to house illegal immigrants also has prompted federal officials to consider building a federal detention center in the Charlotte area, the sheriff said.

Homeland Security needs to draft Sheriff Joe. Detaining facilities I'm hoping will be temporary affairs. I imagine the National Guard could get some tent villages going up too. You want a better life? Set this tent up!

The busing of the immigration detainees should be a state and not a federal or a municipal function.

Sheriff Pendergraph why not bus the illegals to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave since they're so well thought of there?

Plenty of law enforcement already there to keep an eye on them until they can be deported.

Bus truck whatever Jimmy the driver will take a load no problem