February 17, 2011

Sheriff’s office touts 287(g) program

Report: Deportation saves county thousands of dollars

Mark Millican
markmillican@daltoncitizen.com The Dalton Daily Citizen
Feb 17, 2011, 03:34 PM EST

An illegal alien who has been arrested and booked 17 times at the Whitfield County jail since 1994 spent a total of 536 days incarcerated at the facility at a cost of about $21,976 to county taxpayers.

But the cost of keeping the man here could have been much higher if not for a federal program that local law enforcement agents say is helping them reduce the amount of time that people who are here illegally stay in jail before being turned over to the federal government for deportation.

Whitfield County Sheriff’s officers say the implementation of the federal 287(g) program in the spring of 2008 allows them to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deport people who are here illegally and is reducing jail costs by allowing them to more quickly move along inmates like this man.

Capt. Wesley Lynch said on Wednesday after releasing a local “yearly police review and activity reportâ€