Oregon ready to deport inmates

Last Update: 1/14 10:37 am SALEM, Ore.

(AP) — State and federal officials have reached an agreement to deport inmates with less than six months left on their sentences if they are in the U.S. illegally.

The agreement between Oregon and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement potentially affects 206 inmates, most of whom are from Mexico.

The early deportation program was signed into law last summer in Salem as part of a broad cost-saving corrections package. Several states have taken the same money saving step.

The state expected to save $700,000 by Dec. 1, but a legal glitch in reaching the agreement with the federal government held it up for six months.

The program does not apply to inmates convicted of violent or sexual crimes.

http://www.kmtr.com/news/local/story/Or ... H_n5g.cspx