MD-Imprisoned illegal immigrants will be deported under bil
Imprisoned illegal immigrants will be deported under bill
The Washington Examiner
February 11, 2010
Washington Edition
By Hayley Peterson
Maryland lawmakers are considering a bill that will enable the state's prisons to identify and deport imprisoned illegal immigrants.
"We are housing a lot of people that have illegal immigrant status in our detention facilities," said Sen. James N. Robey, D-Howard, who is co- sponsoring the bill with nine other senators. "Taxpayers are paying to keep them in our institutions."
The bill will require Maryland's Correctional Services to send information on inmates to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency if they have an "immigration status."
The state has never before collected inmates' immigration information.
The Division of Parole and Probation and the Division of Correction would be charged with determining whether detainees are in the United Sates illegally and recording that information in their inmate records, according to the bill.
If officials find that an inmate is in the United States illegally, "we can go back to the court and ask them to change a sentence to include deportation," said Robey, a former police officer of 32 years.
Every inmate deported will save the state about $23,000 a year - - or $62 a day -- according to the U.S. Justice Department.
Eleanor McMullen, special assistant to the director of Maryland's Division of Parole and Probation, said she finds the bill a bit puzzling.
"We were never asked for input in the drafting of this bill," McMullen said. "We are uncertain as to what the intent is."
She said the division will not take a position on the bill, but will ask for more clarification on what "immigration status" means in a hearing before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.
"We are statute-bound creatures," she said. "If they approve it, we will implement it."
This year's bill has the support of Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Calvert, and Sens. James DeGrange, D-Anne Arundel, Robert Garagiola, D-North Potomac, John C. Astle, D-Anne Arundel and five others thus far.
hpeterson@washingtonexaminer.com
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/En ... 87&start=1
