Process identifies criminal illegal residents (Daily Tribune)

Process identifies criminal illegal residents

Thursday, March 12, 2009 6:07 AM EDT
By Shaun Byron, Journal Register News Service

Sheriff's Department works closely with immigration agents.

Three men stood in a hallway of the Oakland County Jail dressed in green jumpsuits, their ankles shackled.

They had been removed from their cells Wednesday morning and brought by guard to a narrow hall to wait their turn with immigration enforcement agents, who had been contacted by Oakland County Sheriff's deputies on the suspicion they are living illegally in the United States.

One man had been arrested on allegations of drunken driving. Agents say he had been deported twice to Mexico before his arrest.

Another had long overstayed his VISA from Kosovo, compiling a lengthy criminal record that included charges of stalking and domestic assault.

"Every county does it differently," Immigration Enforcement Agent Kevin Raycraft said of how law enforcement agencies send them information to review and identify possible illegal immigrants.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Oakland County Sheriff's Office invited media Wednesday to the Oakland County Jail to highlight their relationship and discuss the issues involved in reducing the number of illegal immigrants.

The process of identifying these suspected illegal immigrants is a part of the federal agency's Criminal Alien Program, which is designed to screen inmates and place detainers on them when it has been determined they are not legal U.S. citizens. Deportation proceedings are then started before those individuals are released.

Part of this screening process is the electronic scanning of fingerprints, which is then cataloged into a national database. That database carries any previously known information about a suspected illegal immigrant, such as any past contact with law enforcement.

By beginning this process as early as possible, illegal immigrants can be deported much faster, said La'Sal Austin, a supervisory detention and deportation officer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

One of the men who faced agents Wednesday had been sentenced to 365 days in jail. Once that sentence has been served and deportation proceedings have been completed, he will most likely be deported, ICE agents said.

About 27 percent of inmates in U.S. prisons are believed to be illegal immigrants.

The Oakland County Jail has an annual intake of about 25,000 to 27,000 inmates.

At least 1,100 have been identified as possible illegal immigrants through the fingerprint process.

It costs about $95 a day to house each inmate.

"We do get some reimbursement (from the federal government), but it's a constant budget battle," said Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, adding that they don't exactly know who that money is for when it is dispersed to them. "I don't think in the scheme of things that would be costly at all."

Bouchard said certain changes need to be made in order to more effectively enforce immigration laws.

Right now, anyone sentenced to serve time in a county jail isn't deported until after they serve that sentence, costing the taxpayers money.

"In my opinion, when you have … a murder, there is a justice expectation, that you want to see someone serve time for that violent crime," he said. "We've got a situation, where maybe for a property crime, and they are sentenced to a county jail for a year, the taxpayers pay for that full year.

"It would make sense to me ... as soon as they are convicted let's deport them back."

Bouchard said he would like to see the federal government look into enforcing this policy, as well as the ICE fingerprint database used in the CAP program to be connected with all law enforcement agencies.

Individuals taken into the jail already have their fingerprints taken electronically, which could faster identify illegal immigrants.

"They know immediately if we have someone living illegally in the country and has committed a criminal act," Bouchard said. "I think that would enhance our productivity."

Vincent Clausen, field office director for ICE in Michigan and Ohio, said the government is in the process of opening up the database to other agencies, with it being piloted in a large Texas county.

"Hopefully we can add Oakland County sooner than later," he said. "But the federal government works a lot slower than at the county level."