http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5507338.html

Feb. 1, 2008, 10:05PM
ICE to train jail workers to ID illegal immigrants

By LINDSAY WISE
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Some employees with Harris County jails will undergo federal training to help them identify inmates who may be in the U.S. illegally, Sheriff Tommy Thomas announced Friday.

Thomas has authorized selected Sheriff's Office personnel assigned to Harris County's Inmate Processing Center to receive 287(g) training from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Sheriff's spokesman Capt. John Martin.

The program — named for the section of 1996 immigration law that created it — has trained state police in Arizona, Alabama, Colorado, and sheriff's departments in California's Los Angeles and Orange counties and in Maricopa County, Ariz., to identify, process, and detain immigration offenders encountered during regular law enforcement activity.

About six to 12 deputies and detention officers will make up the initial group to receive the training, Martin said.

"Illegal immigration continues to be an important topic for Harris County and a lot of people want to know what law enforcement is doing about it," he said. "This is just something that's going to supplement our efforts to identify people at booking who are in this country illegally."

The training would give employees the ability to interview inmates more thoroughly about their immigration status and authorize them to detain those determined to be in the country illegally, Martin said.

Over the past few months, the office has been negotiating with ICE officials to provide the training locally, possibly at the Sheriff's Academy, instead of sending employees to Georgia to attend ICE's four-week training course, he said.

Martin said there are no current plans to offer the training throughout the department.

lindsay.wise@chron.com