Thread: Many agencies take role in deciding deportations

Posted on Sun, Mar. 30, 2008
Many agencies take role in deciding deportations
As numbers rise, officials prioritize types of offenses
By Robert Morris

Deportation cases are rarely the work of just one agency. They usually involve multiple levels of government, often with different priorities.

Because the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot afford to deport every illegal immigrant - or even every illegal immigrant who commits a crime - it prioritizes its deportation cases based on the severity of the offenses involved, said agency spokesman Richard Rocha.

He noted that deportations doubled from about 4,800 in 2006 to 9,700 in 2007 out of the Atlanta office, which covers Georgia and both Carolinas.

"The most egregious criminal aliens are first," Rocha said. "We, like any other law enforcement agency, must prioritize our use of resources."

When illegal immigrants are accused of lesser crimes, local prosecutors sometimes use their status as possibly removable to minimize their cost to the system, said 15th Judicial Circuit Solicitor Greg Hembree.

Fernando Gonzalez Lopez, 30, charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature after badly beating a woman last October, represents such a case, Hembree said.

Prosecutors worked out a deal in which Lopez will serve a one-year prison sentence, which automatically qualifies him for deportation.

"We could have sent him to prison for a longer period of time, probably, maybe gotten two or three years out of it, but some of those we're willing to take a little less prison time on," Hembree said. "Quite frankly, we hate to spend South Carolina taxpayer dollars to house this guy when we can get him some prison time, hold him accountable for that, then send him back home."

Jailers at J. Reuben Long Detention Center in Conway already run a check on anyone arrested locally who may be from another country, using ICE's Law Enforcement Support Center in Vermont, said Capt. Mike Illes.

The program compares the person's name to their Social Security number and returns a basic match, notifying immigration agents if the person may be removable, Illes said. On any given day, 40 or 50 foreigners may be among the jail's 700 prisoners, Illes said, but the process sometimes takes too long to sort which are or are not in the States illegally.

"The process is so slow that by the time we identify them, they're out the door, gone back to their job or whatever," Illes said.

One solution is the federal 287(g) program, which creates a separate booking process for foreigners that incorporates instant fingerprint recognition. Anyone found to be in the country illegally would be housed - with a federal reimbursement of about $50 per day to the local jail - until the suspect can be removed.

Jail officials met with immigration authorities in December, but because so many agencies are applying for the program, it is unclear when the program will begin.

"Now that immigration is a hot-ticket item; everybody's asking for it," Illes said.

With a 128-bed expansion slated to open this summer, and a maximum-security tower with 536 beds scheduled for 2010, Horry County's role with ICE is likely to evolve.

At some point, the J. Reuben Long Detention Center could even become a regional hub to hold deportees, Illes said.

While some of immigration's most ardent foes in the state ponder deportation-enforcement schemes involving schools or hospitals, Hembree suggested that the criminal-justice system is the ideal place to begin.

"They've demonstrated not only are they breaking one law, they're breaking two," Hembree said.

"If they're here illegally, that's it. We send them back immediately. Of all the illegals that are here, these are the ones we don't want here because they're definitely breaking the rules." Contact ROBERT MORRIS at 626-0294.

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"We could have sent him to prison for a longer period of time, probably, maybe gotten two or three years out of it, but some of those we're willing to take a little less prison time on," Hembree said. "Quite frankly, we hate to spend South Carolina taxpayer dollars to house this guy when we can get him some prison time, hold him accountable for that, then send him back home."

I can understand not wanting to utilize taxpayer dollars to house prisoners, however, it needs to be understood that deportation is not a punishment!

"If they're here illegally, that's it. We send them back immediately. Of all the illegals that are here, these are the ones we don't want here because they're definitely breaking the rules

GOOD! DEPORT ALL ILLEGALS ASAP. NO ONE WANTS THEM HERE!

Another criteria they need to take into consideration is if male, age 18-25, have they registered with Selective Service?


The pro-illegal immigration groups will make the accusation GANG PROFILING