Thread: Maricopa County sees 40% drop in illegal alien inmates

Maricopa County sees 40% drop in inmates suspected of being in U.S. illegally

by JJ Hensley - Mar. 7, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

In the past three years, the number of county-jail inmates whom deputies suspect of being in the country illegally has dropped by nearly 40 percent, from 16,337 in 2008 to 9,894 in 2010.

The trend in Maricopa County is at odds with a national trend that has shown an increase in deportations of undocumented immigrants in the same time frame. However, experts nationwide offered several explanations for the decrease and its seeming contradictions:

- Fewer people in general are committing crimes that land them in Maricopa County jail. The average number of inmates in county custody fell by 13 percent during the same time period as the 40 percent drop in immigration holds.

- The number of immigrants living in Arizona without authorization has decreased, meaning police encounter fewer "criminal aliens" - undocumented immigrants who, after crossing the border, have committed serious crimes that would land them in county jail.

- Even as local police encounter fewer illegal immigrants, federal officials have stepped up immigration-law-enforcement efforts through a variety of programs that can lead to the deportation of illegal immigrants who have not committed serious crimes after crossing the border.

- Rising deportation figures include all immigrants removed from Arizona by federal agents, a population that includes immigrants from other states who are housed in one of the detention centers U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operates or leases in Arizona.

"ICE is filling just as many detention beds in Arizona as they were three years ago," said Kara Hartzler of the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project. "We do get a lot of people from out of state, mostly from California, especially Northern California. We actually have more people in ICE custody here who are from California than are from Arizona, but again, it was like that three years ago."

Explanations for the decline in immigrants in Maricopa County jails generally break along political lines.

Immigration-enforcement advocates credit Arizona's track record of controversial legislation, including Senate Bill 1070, and vocal lawmen like Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for creating an atmosphere that discourages illegal immigrants from staying in Maricopa County.

"It seems like a local government's policies and its positions can cause a real drop in the illegal-immigration population," said Steven Camarota, director of research with the Center for Immigration Studies, a research institute that supports strict immigration enforcement. "With all those caveats of 'It's an imperfect measure,' it does seem that the decline in Arizona was much more manifest than elsewhere."

Immigrant-rights advocates, however, point to the economy as a key factor driving illegal immigrants out of Arizona, just as the recession led to a decline in undocumented immigrants around the nation.

Many also believe newer ICE programs such as Secure Communities play a role. The Secure Communities program shares information with the federal government on every suspect who is fingerprinted by a law-enforcement agency in Arizona, which could contribute to an overall increase in deportations from the state. These immigrants are caught by ICE before they are ever booked into county jail on state charges.

More than half of immigrants ICE has deported from Maricopa County through the Secure Communities program either did not commit any serious offenses or did not commit a criminal offense at all, according to the agency's data. ICE policies authorize the removal of those immigrants when resources are available.

"That's of course one of the huge critiques of Secure Communities: a number of people identified through the program have no criminal offense attached to their record, are not charged with any criminal offense or are eventually not convicted of a criminal offense," said Victoria Lopez of the American Civil Liberties Union in Arizona.

Lopez said that Secure Communities likely has contributed to the decline in county-jail bookings.

"Removals are still up, detentions are still up, there are no empty detention beds, immigration courts are at full-plus capacity on their immigration dockets," Lopez said. "It's not as if immigration enforcement is not happening."

Both sides agree, however, that no single factor could account for such a significant drop in the number of ICE detainers, or immigration-status checks, placed on Maricopa County inmates.

But the trend is across-the-board among police agencies making arrests in the county.

There are 12 agencies that arrest more than 90 percent of the inmates booked into Maricopa County jails in a given year. All but one have seen a decline in the number of immigration detainers issued on their suspects from 2008 through 2010.

The trend of law enforcement encountering fewer criminal aliens extends throughout the state.

A Department of Public Safety task force that focuses on enforcement of crime laws connected to illegal immigration has experienced a similar decline in the number of felony arrests officers have made and the amount of violent criminals they have come in contact with.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... gally.html

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Maricopa County sees 40% drop in inmates suspected of being in U.S. illegally

Both sides agree, however, that no single factor could account for such a significant drop in the number of ICE detainers, or immigration-status checks, placed on Maricopa County inmates.

But the trend is across-the-board among police agencies making arrests in the county.

And if more states would follow Arizona's lead, illegals would be headed home in large numbers and Americans would be getting many more jobs.
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More than half of immigrants ICE has deported from Maricopa County through the Secure Communities program either did not commit any serious offenses or did not commit a criminal offense at all, according to the agency's data. ICE policies authorize the removal of those immigrants when resources are available.

Excuse me, being in the US illegally is crime enough to be deported. Why do they continually overlook that little fact? I don't care if you're a so called "model citizen", if you're here illegally everything about you is a lie. Everything you do after jumping a border is illegal!

40% is a huge drop.