150 Illegal Immigrants Found During Arrests
Policy Does Not Use Racial Profling, Safety Director Says
POSTED: 11:08 am MDT August 6, 2010
UPDATED: 11:44 am MDT August 6, 2010

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- It's been about two months since Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry ordered police officers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to fingerprint everyone who is arrested and check their immigration status.

According to ICE officials, already 150 illegal immigrants have been arrested.

"The focus of this program is to make our streets safer," said Albuquerque Public Safety Director Darren White. "These are 150 people who were accused of breaking the law and who are in this country illegally."

White said none of these illegal immigrants are innocent and that they've all been arrested for serious offenses.

"When you look at some of the charges, from DWI to some of these violent felonies, these are not people you want on our streets," said White.

White said right now, the Prisoner Transport Unit is only fingerprinting people suspected in crimes about 12 hours a day. ICE agents are splitting their time between the transportation center and the west side jail.

"The one thing we're trying to do now, is that we want the PTU to be open for 24 hours a day," said White.

White said because everyone arrested is fingerprinted, it takes racial profiling out of the equation and still gets illegal immigrants out of the country.

Berry said the city was fingerprinting about 17,000 people a year and expects agents will fingerprint about 32,000 people and check their immigration status

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