By GORDON ANDERSON anderson@sanfordherald.comAlthough Lee County sheriff’s deputies are still awaiting official word from the federal government on whether they’ll be allowed to participate in a program under which they can begin the deportation process for illegal aliens who are caught committing crimes here, members of the jail staff have already learned a trick or two from federal immigration agents. Made into law in 2006, the federal 287 (g) program allows agents with the federal Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enter into working agreements with local law enforcement offices that permit local departments to determine the immigration status of people charged with crimes. If a person is here illegally, he/she can be held for federal authorities, who determine whether to move forward with deportation. Local authorities currently have no way to determine whether a person charged with a crime is in the United States legally, short of contacting federal immigration agents, whose nearest location is Raleigh. Although the sheriff’s office in Lee County hasn’t heard anything official about whether it will be involved the program, officials met last week with ICE agents. “They showed us how to go in and start running inquiries on foreign-born suspects that we have in custody,” said Capt. Kent Everett, the jail’s chief officer. “We’ve already determined that we have seven illegals in custody — of those seven, three didn’t have detainers. After determining that they were illegal, we were able to get detainers on them.” A detainer allows federal agents to hold suspects in other crimes if they are determined to be in the country illegally. If the suspects are released from state custody for any reason, they have to be turned over to immigration agents. Everett said federal agents helped jail staff learn how to scan available databases for information about foreign-born suspects’ immigration status. “Right now we have access to about three databases, but we can also forward our information to (immigration agents),” Everett said. “They have access to a lot more information than we do. It’s like making a query.”Everett said the fact that deputies are working with immigration agents at all bodes well for the possibility of the program being implemented here and is “a move in the right direction.”“We were able to open the door as far as the communication, and I think they’re going to look at our progress as this thing moves forward,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment