http://www.cumminghome.com/news30041/sh ... -enf.shtml

Sheriff Applies to ICE for Immigration & Customs Enforcement Authority

Feb 27, 2007

Forsyth County Sheriff Ted Paxton announced today that he has applied to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to begin enforcement of immigration statutes in accordance with Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act...


Forsyth County Sheriff Ted Paxton announced today that he has applied to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to begin enforcement of immigration statutes in accordance with Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.


What this means in layman’s terms is that Forsyth County deputies will soon be trained and empowered to perform immigration-related duties of suspected illegal aliens who are arrested and brought into the Forsyth County jail.


The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office joins a handful of other agencies across Georgia, and the nation, who are using the Immigration Act on a local basis. The Act specifically allows local law enforcement agencies to participate in the enforcement of immigration laws.


“The time has come where the Sheriff’s Office has got to be more proactive in addressing the issue of crimes being committed in our county by illegal aliens,” Sheriff Paxton said. “The Immigration and Nationality Act give us the authority to do just that,” he added.


Paxton added, “While immigration enforcement is primarily a federal issue, when illegal aliens commit crimes in our county then the issue becomes local and calls for swift, local response on our part. That is what is provided for in Section 287(g).”


Selected deputies will be trained by ICE and given the resources to determine if foreign nationals brought into the Forsyth County jail are in the country illegally. Upon making a positive determination that the person is in the country illegally, the deputies will then initiate the paperwork to start the deportation process. All of this is done under the supervision of an ICE agent. However, any arrestees must go through the adjudication process and serve their sentences before deportation occurs.


The primary advantages of this new approach to immigration enforcement is that local law enforcement officers will be trained in immigration law and will have direct access to ICE data resources. The deputies will have the ability to quickly identify illegal aliens and begin the deportation process.


In Georgia, Cobb County Sheriff’s Office was the first sheriff’s office to train deputies under Section 287(g). In 2002, Florida was the first southern state to participate under Section 2887(g). Florida was quickly followed by Alabama in October, 2003.