Virginia Program Helps Net More Illegal Immigrants

03/18/10 10:51 am producer: Erin Gibson



FAIRFAX, Va. - Fairfax County (web | news) is attributing a rise in the number of suspected illegal immigrants it turned over to federal officials to a criminal records sharing program.
From March 9, 2008, to March 9, 2009, the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office identified 836 suspected illegal immigrants it turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In the next year the county was able to turn 1,099 people to ICE, an increase of 31 percent.

Sheriff's office spokesman Sonny Cachuela attributed the increase to an ICE program called Secure Communities. It lets the county check the fingerprints of anyone processed at the jail against an immigration database to see if officials have noted they should be deported.

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0310/717253.html