Immigration agents step up enforcement at NW jails (KGW-OR)

Immigration agents step up enforcement at NW jails
06:53 PM PDT on Wednesday, March 19, 2008
By PAT DOORIS, kgw.com

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrive in Hillsboro before dawn. They’ve come to gather up a handful of illegal immigrants who were held at the Washington County Jail and will now be processed by ICE for deportation.
This is part of a new effort by ICE to cull county jails with a zero policy for illegals.
“Up until august of 2007 there was kind of a bench mark based on criminal charges, “ said jail commander Marie Tyler, “where inmates, if they reached a certain level for a seriousness of charge then ICE would want to be contacted. "
After August, ICE wanted to know about every illegal booked into the jail.
“During that time, there’s been a really significant change,” said Tyler.
Her statistics back that up. Washington County jail records show “holds” put on prisoners by ICE in 2005 hit a high of 78 prisoners for one month. In 2006 the ICE holds hit a high of 91. In 2007 the ICE holds high a high of 183 in September, the month after ICE changed its policy.
You can also see the impact in the number of “ICE Transfers”, people who were physically moved to federal custody from the Washington County jail:
2005: 213 transfers
2006: 304 transfers
2007: 696 tranfers
Commander Tyler has also noticed a decline in the number of illegals immigrants showing up at her jail, with 633 fewer booked into the jail in 2007 than 2005.
The illegal immigrants collected from Hillsboro are driven to an aging federal building in downtown Portland. There, they are photographed and fingerprinted and interviewed.
One is 21 year old Dalin Acosta-Echeverria, a slight woman from Mexico who arrived in the U.S. illegally 8 years ago. She said she cleaned hotel rooms in the Hillsboro area and earned $400 a week, much more than the $100 a month she expected to earn if returned to Mexico.
Police arrested her in March, 2008, after a fight with her boyfriend. The charge was dropped by Washington, County, but she’s being deported.
She stands with her head lowered, ankles handcuffed at the federal detention facility. She says she’s nervous and afraid of being deported.
Also here, Jesus Valencia-Valencia. He’s not afraid. He says he’s been in the U.S. 30 of his 43 years. He has three children, all born in America and automatically citizens. Through a translator he says “his whole family is now here in Oregon. They’re gonna send him back? He’ll be back tomorrow, cause he has to. His family is here,” he said.
Valencia has a criminal record in America that includes assault, menacing, interfering with making a police report, harassment and parole violation.
His claim of a quick return may be wishful thinking. Federal officials say he was deported June 22, 2005. Now he may face federal prison time of two years or more before he’s deported again.
The agent in charge says ICE is stepping up enforcement across the country.
"I think we're making a significant impact,” said Neil Clark, Field office Director for Detention and Removal Operations.
“Last year we had 160,000 charging documents issued thru the criminal alien program as compared to 60-thousand the year before that. This year we expect to issue more than 200-thousand charging documents,” he said.
“So if we havent made an impact as of today we're going to make a significant impact as the future comes," said Clark.