Thread: Immigration check at jails supported

Immigration check at jails supported

Bush program to be expanded by White House

By Spencer S. Hsu

THE WASHINGTON POST
2:00 a.m. May 19, 2009

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is expanding a program initiated by President George W. Bush aimed at checking the immigration status of virtually every person booked into local jails. In four years, the measure could result in a tenfold increase in deportation proceedings against illegal immigrants who have been convicted of crimes, according to current and former U.S. officials.

By matching inmates' fingerprints to federal immigration databases, authorities hope to pinpoint deportable immigrants before they're released from custody. Inmates in federal and state prisons already are screened. But authorities generally lack the time and staff to do the same at the nation's local jails, which house up to twice as many illegal immigrants and where inmates come and go more quickly.

The effort is likely to significantly reshape immigration enforcement, current and former executive branch officials said. It comes as the Obama administration and Democratic leaders in Congress vow to crack down on criminals, rather than illegal immigrants who otherwise abide by the law.
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Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano “has made that very clearâ€

What portion of the illegal immigrant population in this country has committed non-immigration crimes?

I would guess over 60%

Sorry the criminals should come first but to ignore the rest is just wrong!! e-verify and take away the jobs!!

Every illegal alien who is deported, for what ever reason, by what ever method, is good news to me.

It's like eating an elephant, "ONE BITE AT A TIME".