Editorial: Sheriff’s initiative beats waiting for bureaucrats on immigration enforcement

By Daily News staff
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/aug ... ng_bureau/
Sunday, August 26, 2007

Collier County, FL Sheriff Don Hunter has been following through since Sept. 11, 2001, on pledges to help enforce U.S. immigration laws.

He was the first to expose gaps between localized and federal data banks on criminals and suspects. When he told us his and other sheriff’s and police departments in Florida did not have access to vital national information, we were shocked.

He started working to change that.

Now he is helping build bridges. A few months ago he announced officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are based at his jail to help weed out illegals who cost Collier taxpayers some $9 million a year in room and board.

Now, Hunter and ICE officials are announcing formal cross-training of more than two dozen deputies to spot illegals amid the sea of paperwork that is out there, and send them home.

A lot of that documentation is real, with more than 230 kinds of visas. A lot of it is not.

The spectacle of these deputies in a classroom setting with piles of textbooks in front of them speaks to the magnitude of the problem, as well as the seriousness of the resolve to address it.

It is noted that though the illegals convicted of local crimes have to serve those sentences here, Hunter’s efforts still have merit. Their incarceration keeps them off the streets. Then, Hunter and the rest of us are happy to report, these illegals can be deported.

Not perfect, but a lot better than doing nothing and complaining and waiting for Congress and the White House to take action.