Georgia:Area Sheriffs Warming to ICE Role, Teaming with Feds

Area sheriffs warming to ICE role: Teaming with Feds to deport illegal immigrants who break the law

Found in onlineathens.com
Written by Joe Johnson
Posted on 2009-01-1

By Joe Johnson | joe.johnson@onlineathens.com | Story updated at 11:02 pm on 1/10/2009


Barrow County's new sheriff wants his office added to the handful of police agencies in Georgia where officers can help deport illegal immigrants who commit crimes.

Sheriff Jud Smith, who took office Jan. 1, has taken the first steps to follow sheriffs in Hall and Oconee counties partnering with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to root out criminals who are in the country illegally.

"This is something I am very interested in and something I campaigned on," Smith said. "It is something we will be looking into, and I want to implement it as quickly as possible."

More and more Georgia law enforcement agencies began to ask for help from ICE after a state law took effect in July 2007 requiring jailers to make "a reasonable effort" to determine if prisoners were in the country illegally.

Hall County is one of only a few communities in the state with a full-fledged partnership with federal immigration officials. Since Hall jailers became certified as ICE agents in April, the number of illegal immigrants booked into the Hall County Detention Center has been cut in half, according to Hall County Sheriff Steve Cronic.

Once word spread through the community about the ICE program, illegal immigrants moved out of Hall County or grew more cautious about breaking the law, Cronic said.

Before joining the program, about 63 percent of the immigrants booked into the Hall County Detention Center were in the country illegally, he said.

Lawmakers added the ICE deportation program to the Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. It authorized the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to partner with state and local law enforcement agencies and allow officers to act as federal immigration agents.

Under the program, local cops get federally funded training under the supervision of ICE agents.

Sheriff's departments in three other counties in Georgia now participate in the program - Hall, Cobb and Whitfield - and Gwinnett County, which shares a border with Barrow, seems well on its way to becoming the fourth.

Beginning Monday, each shift at the Gwinnett County Jail will be staffed by 15 agents provided by ICE during a 26-day "surge operation," according to Sheriff Butch Conway.

The agents "will screen all inmates booked into the (jail) regardless of their claim to citizenship in order to identify and remove criminal aliens," Conway said in a news release.

"This hopefully will bring us one step closer in getting the green light on that program and will give ICE an idea of the approximate numbers (of prisoners) they would be receiving from our jail," Conway said.

Smith plans to apply for participation the ICE program, but there's no guarantee the federal agency will accept Barrow.

Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry asked to join the program in 2007, but never got a reply from Homeland Security. His office still forged a relationship with ICE, and the agency in February assigned an agent to make regular trips to the Oconee County Jail to check for illegal immigrants among the inmates.

Berry and Smith have discussed the program, and the Oconee County sheriff suggested that Barrow might form the same agreement with ICE.

"I don't want anyone to misinterpret what I want to do," Smith said. "We don't plan to go out looking for people, and we're not going to target any one ethnic group or community. But if someone comes to our jail and we find out they are in the country illegally, we will deal with them accordingly."

Officials with the Clarke County Sheriff's Office looked into the ICE program, but decided not to participate because they decided it wouldn't be the best use of manpower, according to Capt. Eric Pozen.

Clarke County jailers check inmates' names with Homeland Security's Law Enforcement Support Center, which keeps a database of known immigrants who are in the country illegally or have been flagged for deportation, Pozen said.

Jailers check within 48 hours of an arrest and, if a prisoner's name is in the database, notify ICE agents, who decide whether to collect the prisoner.

The jail gives ICE agents three days to pick up illegal immigrants for deportation proceedings, and if they don't, the prisoners can bond out of jail, according to Pozen.
Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Sunday, January 11, 2009

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/011 ... 0964.shtml

Who wouldn't warm to the idea of getting criminals and gang members out of your city and county? These law enforcement officers who balk at the idea of the 287g or immigration enforcement partnerships should worry us all. We have had corruption in our local Police and law enforcement agencies and a Sheriff is now in prison for drugs and other criminal activity.

Psalm 91

Our sheriff, whose jail is in my town, had a press conference in Sept. stating that 21% of his population were illegal aliens.

The sheriff applied a year and a half ago for 287g. As did my town's police. Reading this article really made me want to hear that we got it. :cry:

fedup, I know how much you work for and want real achievement for your area. Don't lose faith. Anything is possible, just as the pardon for the agents. Keep believing, keep getting the word out, and hopefully things will turn around quickly. I too thought nothing would change, and then a step or two forward. Though our city and county as a whole appears to operate a Sanctuary City and though ICE seems to do nothing much, having the CAP program does something, and we can only hope for more.

My heart is with you, my prayers for your area too.

Psalm 91

We here in the Atlanta area are blessed to have DA King as our leader in the local fight against the invasion, He has become a full time fighter on this issue. He has challenged county administration, proved their failure to abide by our laws. He has been effective. More and more sheriffs are getting into 287.

But the old argument is as true as it was day one. The employers who hire the illegals--knowingly-the traitors in our midst are the real problem. Try to find a poultry, carpet or construction employee that is a natural American. It is hard. The worst part--to me--is to see the illegals at government job sites, DOT (Dept of Transportation) crews that are clearly 90% aliens. I do not know if they are here illegally--what would your guess be? When I reported it to ICE, you would think I was a criminal--"What proof do you have"", etc. I felt as if I was considered to be unAmerican by the ICE employee on the phone. It's no wonder it takes so long to git'er done!!