Local agencies training to uncover illegals

BY RAJU CHEBIUM | GANNETT NEWS SERVICE AND SHEILA MCLAUGHLIN
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ ... 1056/COL02

Early on, states and municipalities showed little interest in enforcing federal immigration laws, though Congress gave them limited authority to do so 11 years ago.

Not any more.

Butler County (Ohio) Sheriff Rick Jones is among a growing list of mayors, police chiefs, sheriffs and state law enforcement officials who have been clamoring for training and authority to help reduce the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in this country.

Statistics from Immigration and Customs Enforcement - ICE - reveal that local enforcement efforts, while still in their infancy, already have had some impact.

"They're a force multiplier for us," said Michael Gilhooly, ICE spokesman.

No local agency sought training for the first six years of the federal program's existence. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement became the first participant in 2002.

By last December, eight agencies had taken part, according to ICE. This year, ICE has approved applications from 18 agencies. More approvals - including one in Butler County - are expected.

So far, 457 officers have undergone training and 22,000 immigration arrests have been attributed to trained local officers.

None of those arrests have been local. But some could happen soon.

The Butler County Sheriff's Office could be the first agency in Ohio to be approved for the federal partnership. Approval is expected any time.

Jones, an outspoken advocate for tougher immigration enforcement, has been working on this issue for a year and a half.

"I want to do what the feds can't do," Jones said. "I want to do what they can't do because they don't have enough personnel."

There are 6,000 ICE agents in the United States, 45 in Ohio, Jones said. But there are nearly 1 million local law enforcement officers.

At least four Butler County deputies will be trained to conduct immigration investigations. They will be supervised by federal agents, who will decide which cases to handle.

The agreement also calls for training and equipping four to six corrections officers to run background checks on inmates, and to start deportation paperwork on those determined to be here illegally.

Training for the corrections officers could start within weeks.

Interest in such training has been rising fast; 60 applications were pending in late August, according to ICE.

In Morristown, N.J., Mayor Donald Cresitello took heat from immigrants and the state governor Jon Corzine by applying for the training in March. "I am trying to send a signal that Morristown is not a sanctuary town," Cresitello said.

He noted that at least one of the suspects in this summer's four execution-style shootings in Newark, N.J., is an undocumented immigrant.

In Davidson County, Tenn., 15 prison deputies were trained in April, said Sheriff Daron Hall. Since then, they've processed for deportation more than 1,000 illegal immigrants - up from about 150 last year.