Thread: Sheriff (Gaston Co., NC) focuses on illegal immigrants

Sheriff focuses on illegal immigrants

http://www.charlotte.com/breaking_news/ ... 87538.html
JOSH LANIER
jlanier@charlottobserver.com

The Gaston County Sheriff's office is working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to better identify people illegally in the country.

The 287g program is part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act passed by Congress in 2006. It's a collaborative effort in which immigration agents train jail officials to spot illegal immigrants and give them access to ICE computer database information.

Sheriff Alan Cloninger said he chose 10 deputies to be certified by ICE after four weeks of training. Deputies chosen must have a good service record, must be a law enforcement officer and must be chosen by jail officials to participate in the program. One of those deputies will check immigration status of everyone arrested during initial processing.

"Without 287g, the process of proving citizenship could take several hours," Cloninger said. "They could have bonded out by then and we can't do anything about it."

Deputies have begun removal proceedings on 157 people who were in the country illegally since the program's inception three months ago, Cloninger said.

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157 people in 3 month your going to have to work faster than that is it is going to make a difference!!