Thread: Deportation program is tweaked

"Deportation program is tweaked
Complaints process is widened, but check of immigration status in jails is little changed.

BY SARAH OVASKA AND FRANCO ORDOÑEZ - McClatchy Newspapers
Published: Sun, Jul. 19, 2009 02:00AMModified Sun, Jul. 19, 2009 05:04AM

RALEIGH -- New rules for a federal program to ferret out and deport illegal immigrants incarcerated in local jails will not mean major changes to its implementation in the Wake and Mecklenburg county jails.

Sheriffs in charge of those jails received copies last week of a new memorandum from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security outlining how the federal program known as 287(g) will be run in participating jails.

Named for a section of federal law, 287(g) allows local officers to check the immigration status of people who are arrested and booked into jail, and to begin deportation proceedings against those found to be in the country illegally.

The mission of the program -- to remove illegal immigrants who are threats to local communities -- remains the same, said Matt Chandler, a DHS spokesman.

"The point of the program is to find, identify and remove criminal aliens," Chandler said.

The program has come under fire from immigration advocates, who have raised concerns about racial profiling and deportations after people have been cited on traffic violations and other minor offenses.

"There's no protection at all to protect people who are being deported for minor offenses," said Marty Rosenbluth, an attorney with the Durham-based Southern Coalition for Social Justice.

The new rules did not drastically alter how arrested immigrants are screened but does create additional avenues for complaints of discrimination to be filed.

Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, recently announced that 11 new agencies, including Guilford County, will start training in the program. There are 63 existing programs in communities across the country, including eight in North Carolina.

More than 7,000 illegal immigrants brought to the Mecklenburg County jail have been placed into removal proceedings since the program began in 2006. Slightly more than 2,000 people were flagged for deportation since the program started in the Wake County jail last July. The program also is operating in jails in Alamance, Cabarrus, Cumberland, Gaston and Henderson counties.

The Durham Police Department participates as well, but Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez has said the program is used as an additional tool to help investigate and prevent violent crimes.

Advocates in Charlotte gave mixed reviews about the announcement of the new agreements.

Rafael Prieto, a former Spanish-Language newspaper editor, said the new focus on serious crimes was a "victory" for all who had spoken out about the program. But Ruben Campillo, state director of the Reform Immigration for America Campaign, expressed concern that local law enforcement agencies still have the power to enforce federal immigration laws.

Wake Sheriff Donnie Harrison said he views the program as a success.

"It's a deterrent," Harrison said

Still, he said, a handful of immigrants flagged for deportation by detention officers have been back in the jail on new arrests.

Mecklenburg Sheriff Chipp Bailey said he plans on reading the new agreement Monday.

"Knowing who is in our jail is critical to the safe operation of our facilities, and I will continue to identify those brought into our facilities," Bailey said. "What ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] has us do with these individuals once identified is up to ICE."

sarah.ovaska@newsobserver.com or 919-829-4622"

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1612960.html

Even pulled over for minor offenses if they are undocumented they should be deported.This is covered by the federal laws to do with entering the country illegally.Plus entering the country illegally,driving without a liscence, and or working in this country they have broken several state and federal laws and I DONT CALL THAT MINOR OFFENSES.

Rebelrouser wrote:

Even pulled over for minor offenses if they are undocumented they should be deported.This is covered by the federal laws to do with entering the country illegally.Plus entering the country illegally,driving without a liscence, and or working in this country they have broken several state and federal laws and I DONT CALL THAT MINOR OFFENSES.

Yep, and its been established that the majority of them use fraudulent documents.

Rebelrouser wrote:

Even pulled over for minor offenses if they are undocumented they should be deported.This is covered by the federal laws to do with entering the country illegally.Plus entering the country illegally,driving without a liscence, and or working in this country they have broken several state and federal laws and I DONT CALL THAT MINOR OFFENSES.

Yep, and its been established that the majority of them use fraudulent documents.