Thread: TX: City finds legal way to remove illegal immigrants

My town council wants to apply for 287g. They are going through a fierce battle with the local Catholic Church and Latino activist groups from Chicago. This Monday the council is taking another vote whether we apply or not.

What I want to know before I post about this on my town board... Does this program work with 287g, compliment it? Or... I googled it but haven't found the answer yet. We have a county jail in town so it sounds perfect.

Let's look into this program and spread the word!!

Fed up it sound like it would work together with the 287g program, I'd post it anyway!

Has anyone heard how William did there today?

Irving should take this to Farmers Branch / Carrollton

the problem is that each city has to make the arrangements with ICE

Originally Posted by fedupinwaukegan

My town council wants to apply for 287g. They are going through a fierce battle with the local Catholic Church and Latino activist groups from Chicago. This Monday the council is taking another vote whether we apply or not.

What I want to know before I post about this on my town board... Does this program work with 287g, compliment it? Or... I googled it but haven't found the answer yet. We have a county jail in town so it sounds perfect.

Let's look into this program and spread the word!!

I would definitely find a way to bring this to the attention of your Mayor and Council and ask them to consider postponing a final vote on the matter until they at least look into it.

This may even give the Council what they need to help discredit the activists by being able to say "Look, THIS is what we have in mind, not what others would have you believe our intentions are". Even better if Graf sides with them on this which is very possible.




As for the ACLU.....I'm in agreement with the general opinion. There's only so much they can handle at one time and they're going to find themselves reaching a point where they just can't keep up. After all, they've only got so much in the way of money and staff, don't they?

The Dallas Morning News did an article on this same subject this week. Maybe we should email the mayor of Irving and tell him what a great job he's doing!

Yes, I agree, it would be great if Farmers Branch did this as well. Parts of Irving are, after all, right next door to Farmers Branch. But we really need these laws enacted in ALL Dallas area cities and suburbs, as the illegals move out of one town and into another. (This happened with the Farmers Branch ordinance, where cheap apartments just outside of Farmers Branch put out signs advertising they would take the illegals and se habla espanol.)

Unless there is no where for the illegals to run, they will keep migrating from city to city. But the more cities that enact these laws, the more will feel that it's too much trouble to stay, and move back to their home countries (in Dallas, the majority would go back to Mexico).

TexasGal

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 64b89.html

OPINION VIEWPOINTS

Herbert Gears: Pulling double duty on immigration, crime

Irving has developed an innovative solution

05:58 AM CDT on Monday, July 9, 2007

What if communities could find an effective, legal way to remove illegal immigrants and reduce crime at the same time?

And what if communities could do this without significant investments of money and manpower and without compromising the image of the city or the morale of its residents, visitors and businesses?

The city of Irving has done just that with its 24/7 Criminal Alien Program, created in September with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. To determine the residency status of prisoners, Irving detention officers worked with ICE agents, who made daily visits to the jail to interview suspected criminal aliens. Those identified as illegal were immediately removed for deportation.

Irving began removing criminal aliens at the rate of 50 or more a month – a huge increase over the four per month identified prior to the partnership.

This spring, Irving detention officers began completing the initial screening process and setting up telephone interviews between suspects and ICE officials. With this simple yet effective process change, Irving was able to determine the residency status of every prisoner 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

This transformed a successful program into a round-the-clock initiative with even greater returns: Irving now identifies and removes more than 130 illegal immigrants a month – a 250 percent increase over 2006.

In May, Rep. Pete Sessions formally recognized the Irving Police Department and the city of Irving for these innovative efforts. In June, the city was invited to participate as a keynote speaker at the 11th annual U.S.-Mexico Congressional Border Issues Conference in Washington, D.C., to highlight the program's effectiveness in addressing the problem of criminal illegal immigrants. The Irving City Council voted unanimously June 14 to formally adopt the 24/7 Criminal Alien Program initiative.

What is unique about this program is that it operates within current laws and utilizes existing resources – without costing additional money, time or staffing resources. It allows the city and Police Department to play an active role in the enforcement of immigration laws.

While the program helps safeguard the residents and businesses in Irving, it has also helped project a positive image of the city, which, in turn, has enhanced community morale and economic vitality.

Locally, it is up to each city to find new ways to tackle the immigration problem that build collaboration, tap into existing resources and increase the safety, security and happiness of residents and businesses.

We also must encourage our lawmakers to increase funding for ICE to ensure that partnerships like ours can thrive and be expanded into other communities.

Herbert Gears is mayor of Irving. His e-mail address is mayor@cityofirving.org.