Thread: SAN DIEGO REGION: Jail screening program under fire

The Comments

(27) Comments



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Connie.Swanson said on: April 17, 2011, 9:47 amHARVEY: Senior was being sarcastic; read and copy/paste what was typed immediately following the remark on which you commented.

How nice to see we ALL agree on deportation - so far. The other side who yell about profiling will check in shortly, of this I'm certain.

NO OPT-OUT San Francisco or Los Angeles when they get around to filing. We are over-run and financially over burdened with illegal aliens. THIS MUST BE PUT TO A STOP "NOW" - VIA IMMEDIATE DEPORTATION. DITTO with the abuse of the 14th Amendment re: childbirth.



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Arsenal1 said on: April 17, 2011, 9:44 amThese stories always amaze me. You've got sheriff's in Arizona wanting to more in the way of investigating ILLEGAL ENTRANTS and most of the major cities in California decide to boycott products coming from Arizona in retaliation. You have groups of Californian's boarding buses to go to Arizona and protest against the Arizona laws. Now we have a sheriff in San Francisco who wants to opt out of investigating ILLEGAL ENTRANTS even after they have been booked for another crime. I am curious to see what the major cities of California do in response to this - I suppose we can expect huge parties to be thrown for San Francisco and people will board buses to go to San Fran to celebrate the great Sheriff. The Federal government cannot seem to get any cooperation, they either have to strong an approach from law enforcement or a complete hands off approach. This story also points out another problem. The jails are doing their jobs to investigate and deport ILLEGAL ENTRANTS bit as the story noted this gentleman has been arrested and deported (4) times and now he is back in jail again. You can deport them but they come right back and sometimes the next day. WAKE UP AMERICA.



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Billy Barnes said on: April 17, 2011, 9:34 amNo wonder Lee Enterprises (owner of NCT) is going bankrupt. Google it.

They keep putting this pro-Mexikan tabloid trash on the front page and their subscriptions keep dropping. Duh!

Editor Kent Davy actually thinks this garbage SELLS newspapers, when it really just destroys their credibility and drives people to independent media on the internet.

RIP NC Times. Death by suicide.



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ruby said on: April 17, 2011, 9:14 amInstead of whining about unfair treatment. Go home. Laws are to be followed. Not just for some. Our borders are there for a reason. More stricter laws need to be followed. To end the whining.



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TrojanJoe said on: April 17, 2011, 9:02 amI love this news artical,

Keep the presure on and deport all illegals. They are all commiting crimes being here illegaly, send them packing, pronto!



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EscoNative59 said on: April 17, 2011, 8:24 amBesides San Francisco area has given us the worthless trio of Pelosi, Feinstein and Boxer... make me ashamed to be a Democrat.



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EscoNative59 said on: April 17, 2011, 8:23 amShame on you NCT's for giving this biased "reporter" a platform. NO ONE agrees with him except his buddy Flores and what is bad about ENFORCING OUR EXISTING LAWS. The CRIME is in not deporting ALL illegal immigrants IMMEDIATELY. Americans are fed up with this bs and are going to rise up and do something about it.



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Civics said on: April 17, 2011, 8:21 amI'm sure the drug cartels and their well-placed friends hate this program.



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Citizen said on: April 17, 2011, 8:10 amAnyone who "opts out" and refuses to enforce our laws should not get Federal funding for anything.



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LocalBBboomer said on: April 17, 2011, 8:06 amand there is a problem with this?



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RG1 said on: April 17, 2011, 7:46 am"Jail screening program under fire"? Edward, the title of this article should be "Jail screening program working exactly as it should"!



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Robert24 said on: April 17, 2011, 7:45 amI went to the recycling yard a couple weeks back to turn in some copper. I was was photographed, fingerprinted and then had a three day hold put on the money for the copper I turned in. Should I be upset or feel my rights were trampled for some reason (my grandparents immigrated here from Germany; maybe I was being racially profiled!).

Truth is that I smiled for the picture, immediately produced my thumb for the fingerprint, and came back 3 days later for my money. No biggie, and no one wrote an article about me for what I was "put through".

I guess when you live your life according to the rules that we all have to live by (except, as it seems, illegal aliens) then there really isn't much to worry about. If you choose to break the rules, and then get caught breaking more, you just might not be doing things exactly right!

Fast Eddie will never do an article about me, but, for some, he seems to find quite a bit to write about!



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GarandFan said on: April 17, 2011, 7:40 amAfter reading this article, I can come to only one conclusion. Somewhere, George Orwell is laughing his butt off.

As for the "legislation" coming out of San Francisco; that figures. Probably the same San Francisco that gave "sanctuary" to an MS13 gang member/illegal alien - who MURDERED a man and his two sons for the crime of 'getting in his way'.



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Delaware Bob said on: April 17, 2011, 7:05 amGet rid of all the illegal aliens and all these problems will go away. THAT IS A FACT!

Illegal immigration is a cancer, it has to be eradicated not tolerated.



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lady said on: April 17, 2011, 7:05 amKeep up the good work ,JAILS are full,read the STORY illegal-rights group.THEY should BE deported ASAP,as said " IT IS ILLEGAL TO BE HERE WITHOUT BEING A CITIZEN",get it.
CLEAN up your OUR state,leave ours alone!!
PS: How can I ,or who do I call to see if ALL in the house next to me are LEGAL,seriously,theirs no parking in front of my own house anymore!! New baby crying all the time over there. ANY answers,PLEASEE let me know!!



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Country boy said on: April 17, 2011, 6:50 amI thought illegal was illegal. I guess not in the activists eyes. I can't wait to see our Democrats when the areas they represent look like TJ. Oops I guess they do and it's obvious they don't care! Next will be them being replaced by a haspanic who proposes laws favorable to illegals and they will be out of a job.



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Billy Barnes said on: April 17, 2011, 1:28 am2 Mexican aliens lost more than their cars at the Vista checkpoint Sat. night. They are on their way back home to Mexico today thanks to the boys in green. If only Edward had been there to witness it. Would have loved to see the tears running down his cheeks as Border Patrol hauled away his beloved illegals.

More checkpoints!!!!



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Billy Barnes said on: April 17, 2011, 1:24 amGive it up, Eddie! Your pro-Mexico / criminal "articles" aren't fooling anyone. We all know who you really work for.



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Gerlinda said on: April 17, 2011, 12:25 am78 % of America in all polls show the people are fed up with illegals, and if they do not start sending them home, like they are suppose to, the people will PREVAIL AND DO THE JOB FOR THEM! Calif is 60 % of the welfare across the whole nation, and a recent study shows more illegal alians get welfare checks than Americans. the schools have gone to heck, spanish everywhere you go, they are not here to be americans, they are here for the stuff, and want to return home on a hopeful amnesty, so they can collect social security back in mexico when they retire! Sorry, but tired of being politically correct, were loosing our country to gangs, spanish, ocer population, wake up people!



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albertcannon said on: April 16, 2011, 11:00 pmThe MS criminal justice program has been a true blessing to me and assisted me with a better understanding of the fundamental basis and objectives of criminal justice systems. Search the internet "United Forensic College"


NCT COMMENTS

THE STORY

REGION: Jail screening program under fire

Lawmaker seeks to make immigration checks optional

NORTH COUNTY TIMES
By EDWARD SIFUENTES - esifuentes@nctimes.com |


Posted: Saturday, April 16, 2011 7:13 pm

Under a federal program called Secure Communities, anyone booked into county jails in California is automatically screened for immigration violations. A bill introduced earlier this month in the Legislature would allow counties to opt out of the system.

The program has come under fire from immigrant-rights advocates and some law enforcement officials, who say it has become a dragnet that is catching illegal immigrants who have never been convicted of a crime.

Supporters say the program is a vital tool in the fight against crime and a prudent system to deport illegal immigrants.

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, who wrote the proposed opt-out legislation, Assembly Bill 1081, said the program needs to be more flexible. Federal officials say participation is not optional.

San Diego County was one of the first counties in the nation to implement the program, starting in May 2009. The Sheriff's Department allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to check all suspects booked into its facilities for immigration violations and legal status.

The Secure Communities program links local jails to federal databases. Fingerprints taken from people booked into jail are matched against those federal bases to identify people who may be in the country illegally.

"Secure Communities allows us to leverage technology to screen the intake of all inmates at all jails across the state and to prioritize, apprehend and deport the most egregious offenders," said Robert Culley, ICE's acting field officer director in San Diego.

Enforcing the law

Since the program began in the county up to February 2011, ICE agents have submitted about 226,000 sets of fingerprints, resulting in 7,458 people being deported, according to data released by the Department of Homeland Security.

Of those who were deported from the county, 1,673 people, about 22 percent, had no criminal convictions and 2,845, or 38 percent, had committed lower-level crimes, such as driving without a license.

Nationally, 1 in 4 people deported under the Secure Communities program has not been convicted of a crime, according to data obtained by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Immigration Justice Clinic.

The groups obtained the data as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

Chris Newman, legal affairs director with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said the program was repeatedly billed by federal officials as targeting the most hardened, violent criminals.

Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for ICE in San Diego, said that while the program focuses on removing criminal illegal immigrants, the department is responsible for deporting any illegal immigrants it finds.

Anti-illegal immigration groups say the program is working.

Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation of American Immigration Reform, a Washington-based group that favors strict immigration enforcement measures, said there is nothing wrong with deporting illegal immigrants.

"This idea that you have to have committed another crime other than being here illegally doesn't square with what the law says," Mehlman said.

How the program works

On Wednesday, Vista sheriff's deputies arrested a Mexican man on charges of possession of a controlled substance. ICE officials asked that the man not be identified for privacy reasons.

At the Vista jail, the man was about to be released on bail but was taken to a work station where ICE agents asked him some questions to determine his identity. He told the agents he was a legal resident and that he worked taking care of horses.

The substance, he said, was a horse tranquilizer.

An agent took the man's fingerprints and asked him questions, such as when he became a legal resident, whether he was married and whether he had children. The agent fed the information into a federal database.

Within minutes, the agent learned the man previously had been deported four times and that he had several aliases. ICE agents placed an immigration "hold" on him, which means that once he faces the drug possession charge, he will be returned to immigration authorities for deportation procedures.

Opting out

The program, which started with 14 jurisdictions in 2008, has grown to more than 1,000, including all counties in California. The Department of Homeland Security is on track to expand the program to every law enforcement jurisdiction in the nation by 2013.

Newman said that 25 percent of all people being deported have no criminal convictions is evidence the program is being misused by some law enforcement agencies.

In the politically charged debate over immigration, some agencies may be using the program to look tough on illegal immigrants, Newman said.

On the other hand, it forces some agencies to be tougher on illegal immigrants than they otherwise would be.

Last year, San Francisco's sheriff asked the federal government for permission to opt out of the program, arguing it was overly broad. Sheriff Michael Hennessey said the program conflicts with a San Francisco policy that requires law enforcement to report only those born outside the U.S. who are booked for felonies. Federal officials denied the sheriff's request.

Ammiano's bill not only would allow counties such as San Francisco to opt out of Secure Communities, it would require local governments that participate to adopt measures aimed at preventing racial profiling and protecting crime victims from deportation.

Unfounded fears

Immigration officials say concerns about potential abuses are unfounded. They say Secure Communities eliminates another frequent criticism: that Latinos are subjected to immigration scrutiny more often than people of other backgrounds.

Under the program, everyone booked into jails is checked.

Opponents contend that racial profiling takes place before immigrants get to the jails by cops on the street, who decide who to arrest. The large number of people deported without a criminal background is evidence that police may be taking immigrants to jails without any basis, they say.

"Those numbers raise questions about how Secure Communities may allow local police to cover up profiling and circumvent due process," said Bridget Kessler, a spokeswoman for the Immigration Justice Clinic, an immigrant rights organization based at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law in New York City.

Mehlman disagreed.

"It's just further evidence that they don't want immigration laws enforced," he said.

Call staff writer Edward Sifuentes at 760-740-3511.

NORTH COUNTY TIMES

This is why some people oppose Secure Communities.

IT WORKS.

Deported by Secure Communities as of 4/14/2011
( All states not listed, 0 )

AZ - 10,963
AR - 34
CA - 27,899 - GO CALIFORNIA
CO - 15
CT - 47
DE - 45
FL - 3,755
GA - 1,544
HI - 7
ID - 92
IL - 456
KS - 7
KY - 30
LA - 187
MD - 108
MA - 154
MI - I88
MS - 30
MO - 29
MT - 1
NE - 57
NV - 265
NM - 320
NC - 2,024
OH - 235
OK - 403
OR - 324
PA - 349
SC - 216
SD - 15
TN - 375
TX - 20,405
UT - 576
VA - 1,215
WV - 1
WI - 10
WY - 11

TOTAL 72,445
4/14/2011

www.ice.gov