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Cracking down on illegal immigration -- one click at a time

Updated:

By Trang Do
WAFF 48 News Reporter



Some Valley police officers are educating themselves about immigration law, and they're doing it with the click of a mouse.

Albertville's police department was handpicked by Sen. Jeff Sessions to participate in a pilot study aimed at combating a growing problem.

Spotting a fake ID or fraudulent document is one of the key topics covered by the basic immigration enforcement training.

"It aids the officer in spotting a fake or false ID card or a government issued document, it also gives the officers clues to look for when they actually encounter a real or legitimate document," Training Officer Jamie Smith said.

Smith is one of the 500 officers nationwide who have completed the 20-hour online course.

The department works closely with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but the course teaches Valley officers basic immigration law.

"Having this online training, I felt would be good for our officers to give them more confidence in their abilities dealing with these issues daily," said Police Chief Benny Womack.

And Womack hopes the training won't stop there.

He's applied for the opportunity to send officers to an additional ICE training course that will give officers more power to fight illegal immigration at the local level.

"This is immigration training to give our officers or any other law enforcement officer the ability to arrest an illegal immigrant for that charge," said Womack.

You can contact Trang at tdo@waff.com
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