Illegal and in jail: Numbers rising in Franklin County
By ROSCOE BARNES III Staff writer
September 5, 2010

Franklin County is seeing an increase in the number of illegal immigrants who commit crimes and are picked up and transferred to York County Prison by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to local jail records.

Tracking the system from there, however, gets complicated.

Public Opinion set out to track several months worth of individuals who are processed into Franklin County Jail and are also in this country illegally. While there is a "paper trail" that follows these people from one institution to the next through the courts and immigration system, reporters found the immigration status makes an individual much harder to track than someone in the legal system without immigration issues.

What happens to them following the transfer to York is hard to determine. According to Franklin County Jail Warden John Wetzel, there's anecdotal evidence that some of those who are released by ICE might return to Franklin County and begin using different names.

While it is possible that that happens on some occasions, it is not easy to track, according to Wetzel.

"I can't say that it happens all that often," he said. "No, I don't think that happens on a regular basis."

The numbers

The number of people having illegal status in jail and transferred to ICE is up about 2 percent, Wetzel said.

On average, the jail receives between four and six cases a month, out of a total of about 200 placed in the jail, Wetzel said.

"We're doing a heck of a lot more ID commitments (arrests related to status)," he said, adding the increase may be due to central booking and its relationship with ICE.
When some of the immigrants are placed in jail, they already have an ICE warrant for their arrest, according to Wetzel. Others are arrested for other crimes, and their status is determined later.

"If we have any reason to believe they are not in the country legally, we contact ICE," he said. "They come down and they interview."

In July five immigrants were placed in jail who either had an ICE warrant or they were determined to have illegal status. A total of six were released or transferred to York.

In June, four were placed in jail and three were released to York. In May, four were placed in jail, and five released to York.

Similar numbers are seen in April when four people were placed in jail and three were released to York.

In December 2009, five were placed in jail, and five released to York.

Some of the cases that involved immigrants who were later transferred to York included various crimes such as driving under the influence, possession of marijuana, burglary, simple assault, theft, and tampering with records.

The process

According to Harold Ort, ICE public affairs officer, ICE operates a criminal alien program through which its officers routinely investigate the immigration status of those incarcerated. If it is determined they are subject to removal proceedings, they will be further detained by ICE and processed for removal proceedings from the local jail.

ICE receives daily population lists from Franklin County, Ort said: "We screen them for immigration violation."

From Franklin County, the inmates are taken to York County Prison, where they are processed and issued a charging document. A custody determination is issued.

At that stage, the detainee could be released on his or her own recognizance, or detained with a bond amount or released pending the posting of a bond, or be held with no bond as an option.

"The detainee has the right to ask for custody re-determination before the immigration judge," he said. He noted that non-detainee hearings are conducted in Philadelphia for Pennsylvania residents released on their own recognizance.

Sometimes ICE will charge individuals with violating immigration law, sometimes they are detained, and sometimes they are not charged, according to Kathryn Mattingly, spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review

If the immigrant is charged, he or she will be ordered to appear before a judge in York. A hearing, which is actually an arraignment, will be scheduled.

The hearing is held to ensure the person understands the charge, and to let him or her know of legal services in the area, Mattingly said.

Free legal service providers will be made available.

Mattingly said all of the cases can be tracked by an alien registration number. For those that can't be found in the system, it is possible they have not yet been charged, she said.

Although Public Opinion had names of arrestees on illegal immigration charges, reporters could not get access to alien registration numbers to find out who came, who left, and who might have come back to Franklin County.

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