Immigration detentions up in Boone County

Columbia Daily Tribune
February 9, 2011
By Andrew Denney

Despite a nationwide decline in the population of illegal immigrants and a drop in the number of illegal immigrants arrested by state police, an increasing number of inmates in the Boone County Jail are being held on immigration detainers.

According to Boone County Sheriff’s Department records, there were 63 immigration detainers last year, up from 48 in 2009. In 2008, the year after a new state law regarding immigration was passed, there were 54 detainers.

The department’s data for immigration detainers in 2007 were incomplete, but an analysis of arrests published in the Tribune indicates there were about 30 immigration detainers that year.

According to the Pew Hispanic Center, there were 11.2 million illegal immigrants in the United States in March, down from about 12 million in March 2007.

Inmates are held on an immigration detainer if, during an arrest or incarceration, their citizenship is called into question.

After they have paid fines or served time for local crimes, inmates can be held as long as 48 hours while law enforcement officials contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to determine whether a prisoner should be held for deportation proceedings.

In 2007, then-Gov. Matt Blunt ordered the Missouri State Highway Patrol to check the immigration status of anyone incarcerated by state police.

In 2008, Blunt signed into law an immigration bill that requires law enforcement agencies to verify a prisoner’s citizenship with federal officials if it cannot be determined from the identification the prisoner possesses, or after a “reasonable effortâ€