Thread: NY: Spano wants illegals on probation deported

Spano wants illegals on probation deported
By LEAH RAE
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: April 25, 2007)

Westchester is spending more than $2 million a year to supervise illegal immigrants who are on probation - people who should be deported, County Executive Andrew Spano said yesterday.

Spano held a news conference to push for increased federal immigration enforcement that would remove more probationers from the country.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is failing to deport even violent offenders because of limited resources, Spano said. About 700 of the 7,000 probationers in Westchester are undocumented, according to the county, including 200 felons.

"This is an issue about safety," he said. "These people probably kill more than terrorists do in the United States."

Spano referred to the problem as being probably "more dangerous than what's going on in Iraq."

Spano wrote to members of the local congressional delegation last month to request more staffing for ICE operations in Westchester.

ICE has collaborated with Westchester officials in recent years. Since 2003, the county Probation Department has assisted ICE in sweeps of sex offenders under Operation Predator, resulting in more than 90 deportations, according to county figures. But efforts to round up drunken drivers and violent felons are falling short, Spano wrote to members of Congress.

"I just don't think the issue is on anyone's radar screen, that's all," Spano said. "And it should be. It's a big issue."

An attorney for the Westchester Hispanic Coalition cautioned against referring to undocumented immigrants in such blanket terms. County officials might not be able to determine a defendant's immigration status, said Ariadna Renteria Torres.

"You have to allow the people to be able to present the defense," she said.

And probationers, by definition, are complying with their sentence, she said. "The state decided that this person (a probationer) is not a danger to the community or a flight risk," she said.

The county contacts ICE when it determines that a defendant is in the country illegally, said Rocco Pozzi, commissioner of corrections and probation.

But he said ICE often fails to follow through.

ICE spokesman Mark Thorn said the agency has liaisons in New York City and Castle Point, along with the Westchester County jail, who are available to respond to local law enforcement agencies.

"ICE's priorities have always been the arrest and removal of criminal aliens, the public safety of our communities, and working with state and local law enforcement," he said. "We have always worked closely with Westchester County and we will continue to do so."

Probation officials in neighboring counties said they didn't have the same complaint as Westchester, partly because their probation systems are much smaller.

"We do have a number of individuals sentenced to probation who are undocumented aliens," said Gene J. Funicelli, Putnam County's director of probation. "Our position is that we have to supervise them. We understand that ICE doesn't have the resources to pursue these individuals and deport them. We deal with it as best we can."

Like Westchester, Putnam has assisted ICE in locating sex offenders who are illegal aliens.

"We treat every individual sentenced to probation equally," Funicelli said. "We don't have the authority ICE has, so we supervise them."

In Rockland, Probation Director Jacqueline Stormes noted that the county is obligated to serve families in matters such as Family Court offenses and juvenile delinquency, regardless of immigration status.

Stormes said that while undocumented immigrants are among Rockland's probationers, it wasn't a pressing issue. She noted that the county is partially reimbursed by the state for probation services.

"I've been fairly satisfied with my relationship with ICE, but we're a smaller county," Stormes said.

Rep. Eliot Engel, D-Bronx, asked about Spano's complaint, gave a sympathetic statement: "Local governments should not be put in a position to make up for shortfalls in federal funding," he said yesterday. "(ICE) certainly needs to work in a cooperative manner with local law enforcement, but local governments should not have to pay for the tremendous backlogs in our federal immigration system."

Seventy-four of about 1,550 county inmates are undocumented, Pozzi said.

http://www.nyjournalnews.com/apps/pbcs. ... /704250368

Deporting them is a very good idea. Why should we risk the safety of our citizens.

Ice needs more people! Reach out to the brave men and women who came back from the war to find there old jobs have been sent over seas.
29000 plus have been wounded give them first choice. We can clean up this mess.