Note, San Francisco, Pelosi's area.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hea ... 56202.html

Jan. 9, 2007, 12:44AM
Texas prisons ace immigration test
State singled out for helping deport foreign inmates after their release


By MICHELLE MITTELSTADT
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau


LOWEST MARKS TO SAN FRANCISCO

Among the least helpful jurisdictions, the inspector general's report on deporting illegal immigrants found, is San Francisco, where some ICE officials reported to Fine's auditors that they received the "bare minimum" of cooperation and are not permitted to examine county jail records or booking cards.

WASHINGTON — Texas has one of the best records for working with the federal government to deport prisoners who are illegal immigrants, the Justice Department's inspector general said Monday.

Though the federal government pays more than $287 million yearly to help state and local agencies defray the costs of jailing illegal immigrants, prison officials don't always bring these inmates to the attention of federal immigration authorities, Inspector General Glenn Fine said in a new report.


'Significant cooperation'
Fine singled out Texas as a state that has provided "significant cooperation" to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in forcing illegal immigrants to leave the country once they've finished serving their prison sentences.

"We do work very closely with ICE, particularly in the discharge process," said Michelle Lyons, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

"It is certainly not uncommon for ICE to be present, almost on a daily basis, to pick up inmates who are discharged from the system but who do have ICE detainers placed on them," Lyons said.

The Texas prison system, which houses 152,000 inmates, identifies the immigration status of prisoners as soon as they enter the system, Lyons said, and shares the names, photos and fingerprints of foreign-born inmates with ICE. Nearly 12,000 claim a foreign place of birth, she said.

Fine's office provided no sweeping conclusions, but noted that state and local governments have different standards for inquiring about detainees' immigration status and working with ICE.

Nearly a third of the state, county and local agencies that completed a survey from the inspector general reported they do not generally ask detainees about their immigration status. Eighteen of the 99 jurisdictions reported that they do not alert ICE before they release illegal immigrants from custody.


Incidents of recidivism
The inspector general also reported a significant degree of recidivism among illegal immigrants arrested by state or local law enforcement during 2004, the most recent year for which complete records exist.

A sample of 100 cases, taken from the criminal histories of the 262,105 illegal immigrants incarcerated in 2004, showed that 73 had a subsequent arrest. In fact, the 73 tallied 429 additional arrests — an average of nearly six arrests per person. The arrests ranged from drug, weapons and burglary charges to traffic violations.

Fine's office couldn't determine if local authorities had released any of the 100 criminals without first notifying ICE.

The auditors further explained that they could not say whether the illegal immigrants had been deported and then unlawfully re-entered the United States before being arrested again.

The audit was requested by Congress in 2005 to determine how well the 752 state, county and local jurisdictions that receive State Criminal Alien Assistance Program funds cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security.

The program, begun in 1995 to help defray the costs of jailing illegal immigrants convicted of crimes, chiefly benefits states with the largest populations of illegal immigrants.

Texas received $18.6 million in 2005, the third highest amount after California, with $86 million, and New York with $24 million.

In addition to the Texas allotment, Harris County received nearly $2.7 million in 2005.