Thread: GA-Our view: 287(g) arrival expected to put criminals on ICE

7/12/2009 12:01:00 AM
Our view: 287(g) arrival expected to put criminals on ICE

On Friday, Gwinnett County received news that gives a super, turbo-charged boost to the race against gangs, drugs and the criminal element.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency announced it had entered into a 287(g) agreement with the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department.

Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act trains and authorizes local officers to investigate, detain and arrest illegal immigrants on civil and criminal grounds. Gwinnett Sheriff Butch Conway has been diligent in his efforts to bring the program to his department. He enlisted the aid of Georgia senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson. Their efforts have finally paid off.

287(g) gives local officers the power and the tools to move illegal aliens toward deportation. It also grants access to the ICE database - an essential tool in identifying illegal aliens.

An ICE census of our county jail conducted in January showed 914 illegal immigrants were housed there. Perhaps more startling is that of every 10 foreign-born inmates at the county jail, seven had entered this country illegally.

For Gwinnett County, acceptance into the program means that anyone brought into custody by the Sheriff's Department or brought to the jail is subject to an immigration check. If the person in custody is here illegally, officers have the right to detain that person and turn them over to ICE officials for possible deportation.

Foreign drug cartels have quietly invaded this area. Our interstate highways and suburban setting are a perfect combination for clandestine activities that need easy access to efficient supply lines. Gwinnett County fits the description.

Consider:

• Last July, an alleged drug dealer was found severely dehydrated and badly beaten after being chained and gagged for six days in the basement of a Lilburn home.

• Four days earlier, Gwinnett police SWAT officers shot and killed a suspect in the parking lot of a Waffle House in another drug-related kidnapping.

• In September, police raided a Lawrenceville home belonging to an alleged leader of the brutal Gulf cartel - a group known for torture, murder and beheadings in Mexico.

• A recent police campaign unearthed 17 "grow houses" where drugs are grown or manufactured in the basements of homes nestled quietly amid Gwinnett subdivisions.

Sheriff Conway welcomes the opportunity to add 287(g) to his department's arsenal against crime. "There's a tremendous problem with illegal aliens being arrested in Gwinnett. And then when they're arrested, they don't show up for court ... They take up a tremendous amount of our resources and it hurts the county's quality of life tremendously."

The community owes its thanks to those who worked to bring us 287(g). Ours is one of only 77 national 287(g) agreements signed with ICE.

The program isn't a magic wand that will make the criminal element disappear. But it gives the sheriff and his deputies and staff at the county jail a much-needed weapon in their fight against crime.

http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/main.a ... TM=176.558

Good news, however, will they only be allowed to use the tool to identify and deport criminal illegal aliens for only the worst deemed crimes by the open borders groups? Identifying an illegal alien for whatever reason and for whatever crime, should result in the deportation process.

Jeremiah 29:11

GP, according to the new rules reported last week for ICE the new rules for 287g will deal with criminals only not for someone driving with out a license or any minor infraction.

Their way of not really enforcing our immigration laws and nothing more than a smoke screen for the next CIR bill we are pretty sure will be here in Sept. that they will be trying to cram down Americans throats!

We all know SoSad that it is those things (driving without license or insurance) that identify the illegal alien. They use multiple names, they may not have been put in the system as a criminal or fugitive from somewhere else yet. It is loopholes and ignoring the basic fact - they are illegally present and law enforcement knows it. It is playing a game and it makes your head spin. So they continue to drive, continue to steal identities without fear and we just keep paying.

Jeremiah 29:11

Here GeorgiaPeach, is the other article....It pretty much says what they have planned, these people don't even think drunk driving is crime enough to be deported....it basically gives illegals already here amnesty! and your right it makes my head spin

House approves $200 million for new immigration enforcement program

By: David Sherfinski
Examiner Staff Writer
July 10, 2009

The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to appropriate $200 million for a new immigration enforcement program used in Fairfax County and about 50 other jurisdictions nationwide.

Fairfax recently became the first county in Virginia to begin using the program, which is known as Secure Communities. Under the program, local officers scan the fingerprints of individuals arrested, which are run through government databases.

The issue of immigration enforcement has resurfaced this week, as a report from the Council on Foreign Relations concluded that cooperation between local and federal officials on the matter are "unsatisfactory." The council is a nonpartisan think tank that focuses on international affairs.

Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the CFR and director of the task force that completed the study, said local jurisdictions sometimes act too aggressively in enforcing immigration laws. The group was co-chaired by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former White House Chief of Staff Thomas "Mack" McLarty.

Kathleen Campbell Walker, a member of the task force, wrote that the report is too "sanguine" about efforts to expand the 287(g) program, which deputizes local officials to enforce certain federal immigration laws and is currently used in Prince William County.

"Numerous law enforcement associations support preserving the line between federal civil immigration law enforcement and state and local criminal law enforcement," she wrote. "Any expansion or endorsement of 287(g) programs ... must be limited to felony violations. Otherwise, security in local communities will not be enhanced."


The proliferation of Secure Communities has led some to believe that it could replace efforts to deputize local officials. "I think it very well could," said Alden.

Prince William's policy, which has been revised several times, is defined narrowly to "focus on illegal aliens who commit serious offenses including human trafficking, fake ID production operations and gang involvement."

Prince William Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart, R-at large, has said he does not believe the programs are redundant, arguing that the 287(g) program allowed county police officers to participate in the deportation process.

Still, during a recession, securing the necessary funding for the program presents local governments with difficult decisions, Alden said.

"A lot of communities are reluctant to participate," he said. "The funding issues are going to become a bigger question here."

dsherfinski@washingtonexaminer.com

Thank you for the additional information SoSad.

Psalm 91