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Cobb to Join Illegal Immigrant Program






MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) -- The Cobb County Commission has approved a request by the sheriff to work more closely with federal officials to deport illegal immigrants who are in jail.

The plan the commission approved yesterday calls for the Cobb County Sheriff's Department to join a federal program designed to provide quicker identification of illegal immigrants who are charged with a crime.

The county would be the first in Georgia to join the program. Only seven other agencies around the country have joined.

Sheriff Neil Warren says local law enforcers are trained on how to handle illegal immigrants they encounter during routine duties.

The sheriff says the focus will be to continue identifying, prosecuting and deporting illegal immigrants who commit crimes.

The federal government has offered immigration enforcement training to police and sheriff's agencies since 1996, but few officers have gone through the program. The first group -- about 30 members of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement -- did not get trained until 2002.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Immigration Statistics show Georgia has one of the fastest-growing illegal immigrant populations in the nation. Cobb County has been a magnet for illegal immigrants who have found jobs in the building trades and service industry during the area's rapid growth.



(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)