BY PAT KIMBROUGH, HIGH POINT ENTERPRISE
ThePiedmontChannel.com
updated 9:21 a.m. ET, Wed., Jan. 21, 2009
HIGH POINT - The Guilford County Sheriff's Office will begin participating in a federal initiative to identify, apprehend and deport illegal immigrants this spring.

Sheriff BJ Barnes said his office is scheduled to begin taking part in the 287(g) program through U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in April. The program allows law enforcement to hold illegal immigrants arrested in their jurisdictions for deportation proceedings after their cases are adjudicated.

The sheriff's office will participate in a modified version of the program in which one specially trained deputy will have access to an ICE database showing whether detainees are legal U.S. citizens.

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Those deemed illegal could be housed at a jail in a neighboring county before being turned over to federal officials for deportation after their cases are resolved.

"We can't be part of the official 287(g), and the reason for that is we don't have the jail space," Barnes said. "But we are part of a task force that is related to 287(g) in that we're going to have access to the information that we need."

The program, which already is operating in Alamance, Cabarrus, Cumberland, Gaston, Henderson, Mecklenburg and Wake counties, allocates a certain amount of federal money per inmate to the agencies that are holding illegal immigrants. The program has been controversial, with critics contending that officers target people who potentially look like illegal immigrants.

"The intent of the program is to eradicate people who have committed serious felonies. What ends up happening is that (a large) percent of the people being deported are (detained) for traffic violations, which is an abuse of the law," said Tony Asion, the executive director of El Pueblo, a Raleigh-based Latino advocacy group. "It creates a lot of fear. It lends itself to harassment of people who are not supposed to be harassed."

Since it's been in use, the program has reportedly flagged more than 3,000 people for deportation statewide.

"We're having a person who will actually be checking the jails, checking the issues to see if the people who are in there are in violation and identifying those folks," said Barnes. "We're in the process of getting that officer trained through ICE and everything now."

This article appeared in Tuesday's edition of the High Point Enterprise.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28755589/