Enforcing immigration law not as simple as it seems
Published Sunday, August 3, 2008

As Beaufort County and federal officials step up enforcement aimed at identifying illegal immigrants, we must be prepared for the costs.

The first and most obvious one is a jail filled well beyond its capacity. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials began a 90-day sweep July 1 to identify and hold illegal immigrants in jails in selected counties across the state, including Beaufort County. As a result, the local jail population has swelled to more than 400 prisoners some nights. The jail's original capacity was 255. That creates cost and security concerns.

The jail situation also shows that federal officials still control this issue. Officials with ICE don't start deportation proceedings for those identified as here illegally until they've served their sentences. For those with misdemeanor charges that's 30 days or less. Someone convicted of a serious felony charge will be with us for a good long while in the state prison system.

And we'll have to see how long it takes ICE to move them from the local jail to federal detention facilities after their sentences are up or their cases resolved short of sentencing.

Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone points out that knowing someone faces deportation potentially affects how his office handles a case. Stone says he has asked jail director Philip Foot to e-mail him each day the names of those who have been put on hold by federal immigration officials. Stone e-mails that information to his deputy solicitors so they know which of their cases might be affected by a defendant's immigration status. For example, someone facing possible deportation would not be a good candidate for probation.

It also could affect those facing misdemeanor charges. Sheriff P.J. Tanner has said some people identified as here illegally and facing misdemeanor "victimless" crimes, such as traffic violations, could see those charges dropped so they can be handed over to federal officials sooner.

Stone says the recent ICE sweep hasn't changed the actual number of illegal immigrants in our county jail, but it has changed law enforcement's knowledge about that number. He also sees potential deportation as a good deterrent for misdemeanor crimes. Someone might think twice about driving without a license or drinking and driving if they know it could target them for deportation.

The decision to turn over information about potential identity fraud to the Sheriff's Office as a result of business license audits takes enforcement efforts here to a level not discussed when the county's Lawful Employment Ordinance was passed.

That ordinance was intended to make sure businesses operating under county licenses follow federal law when it comes to documenting that their employees are in the country legally. It did not ask any more of local businesses than already was required under federal law, but it did reinforce the county's ability to make sure employers were following the law. Employers could make things right by firing the employees whose documents were deemed invalid by auditors. Get employers to stop hiring illegal immigrants, and they'll go elsewhere to find work.

Turning over information about fraudulent documents to the Sheriff's Office means that enforcement will now take aim directly at employees. Those found to have used fraudulent identification could be charged under the state's new Immigration Reform Act, which makes it a misdemeanor on first offense to use fraudulent or counterfeit documents and a felony on subsequent offenses.

We won't see the real impact of the Sheriff's Office taking up immigration enforcement until after the ICE sweep is completed, and the deputies start working on their own. One fear is that stepped up enforcement will discourage those here illegally from reporting crime or cooperating with investigators. Tanner has said before that his deputies primarily would focus on identifying illegal immigrants after they get in trouble with the law. Immigration status would be a secondary concern, not a primary offense.

That would change if deputies pursue charges based on information gleaned from business license audits. Will that make it more difficult to get information about an armed robbery or other serious crimes that put us all at risk?

Stone says he doesn't think so because illegal immigrants have always had a fear of deportation.

"It's been a problem," he said. "It will still be a problem."

Solving the problem of jail overcrowding does not have a single solution, particularly when a new jail is at best years away. Let's forget creating a "tent city." That creates more problems than it solves.

We need to look at who we are putting in jail -- even overnight -- and why. We need to have magistrates available at night to deal with bonds more quickly, potentially keeping many people from having to spend a night in jail.

Stone wants to create a "career criminal" team of three experienced attorneys and a victim's advocate to aggressively prepare their cases for trial in hopes of clearing them out of the jail and sending them to state prison. He estimates the cost at about $260,000, with about $187,000 coming from Beaufort County.

All of this is to say that removing illegal immigrants from our community is much more complicated than rounding them up and sending them away, and we should recognize that.
http://www.islandpacket.com/opinion/story/566390.html