Thread: Report: Illegal immigrants freed from Texas jail

Report: Illegal immigrants freed from Texas jail

HOUSTON (AP) — Federal immigration officials freed thousands of inmates in the third-most populous U.S. county jail despite the suspects admitting they were in the United States illegally, a newspaper investigation found.
More than 3,500 inmates told Harris County jailers they were in the country illegally over an eight-month period starting in June 2007, but records show Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed paperwork to detain only about a quarter of them.

In a story published Sunday, The Houston Chronicle found that most illegal immigrants released from jail were accused of minor crimes. But others included convicted child molesters, rapists and those ordered to be deported decades ago.

ICE officials said they are doing the best they can with their resources.

"No agency has enough law enforcement officers to do the job the way they'd like," Kenneth Landgrebe, ICE's field office director for detention and removal in Houston, told the Chronicle.

The Houston ICE office set a record by removing 8,226 illegal immigrants with criminal records from southeast Texas last year, an increase of about 7.5% from fiscal year 2007.

ICE officials said between 300,000 and 450,000 inmates incarcerated in the U.S. are eligible for deportation each year. The agency estimates it screens inmates in only about 10% of the time.
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Since they only screen 10% of the time we could have 10 times as many illegal alien inmates as we think we have.

Although not an exact duplicate a more extensive article was posted earlier which states everything this article does so this thread is locked, any further comments should be made at:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-138276-ken ... +landgrebe