Jail on ICE (Lake County News-Sun)

Jail on ICE
End-of-term deportation has become routine

February 25, 2009
By NICHOLAS P. ALAJAKIS nalajakis@scn1.com

WAUKEGAN -- With immigration officials flanking them, two men shuffled toward a waiting vehicle at Lake County Jail.

Once inside the low-profile Chevy Trailblazer, the two Mexican nationals were whisked away by immigration officials, possibly never to return to Lake County again.

It's a scene that has been repeated dozens of times a month at the jail, and on Tuesday, reporters were allowed a peek into a process that local and federal officials have been lauding for months.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Criminal Alien Program has led to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants being detained in jails across the country. The program identifies illegal aliens that come through jails and then detains them until their sentences are served, at which time they are deported.

Since the program began in September 2007, roughly 260 inmates at the jail have had detainers placed on them. And a majority of them were eventually deported, said Gail Montenegro, a public affairs officer with ICE.

Lake County was praised Tuesday as one of the jails that works well with ICE officials. James McPeek, a field office director from ICE's Chicago office, said the dedication shown by Sheriff Mark Curran and his staff is vital to the program's success.

"We have a very good relationship with Lake County," McPeek said. "We've seen some very positive results."

McPeek said Lake County has among the greatest number of detainees for Chicago's collar counties. According to Curran, 152 of the jail's 655 inmates are foreign born. And of those 152, roughly 90 percent are illegal aliens.

On Tuesday, ICE and the sheriff allowed reporters to look on as newly arrested illegal immigrants were interviewed by immigration officials, and two other illegal immigrants were sent to ICE's Broadview holding facility after completing their sentences for domestic battery charges. Once they are taken away from Lake County, ICE begins the deportation process, which averages about 14 days.

Though all of the men interviewed Tuesday were of Mexican descent, not everyone detained is Hispanic. While the number is much lower, the jail also has illegal European immigrants, said jail chief Jennifer Witherspoon.

Curran said he hopes the deportations will discourage illegal immigrants from committing crimes in Lake County and from coming here for any reason.

"We hope it to be a deterrent. Lake County plays hardball," the sheriff said. "We enforce the rule of the law."

Curran said he wants to have ICE officials in Lake County permanently. The sheriff said he wants to look at transforming the jail's work-release section into an area for ICE to house detained inmates. Such use would result in federal assistance to the county.