ICE to expand illegal alien criminals program to more local jails

From this:

Federal immigration officials want to reach into the nation's jails to find more illegal immigrants and legal immigrants with convictions serious enough to merit deportation.

Julie Myers, assistant secretary of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the effort, called Secure Communities, will focus on violent offenders first.

ICE screens all federal and state prison populations but has access to only about 10 percent of the nation's city and county jails, according to the agency.

Myers said the federal government wants to include all local jails by coordinating immigration databases with city and county databases. She estimated that the effort will take three and a half years to complete. The program's first phase -- removing violent offenders -- will cost $930 million to $1.1 billion, according to an ICE fact sheet.

Apparently non-violent offenders will be able to get some form of early release by agreeing to be deported, which may lead to some form of revolving door. I didn't see anything that confirms that those involved in violent crimes will be required to serve their full sentence before being deported, but I'd at least hope that's the case. They'll also be expanding the 287g program.

Needless to say, a few illegal immigration supporters oppose the plan, such as Irving, Texas' Carlos Quintanilla (at the link) and Arnoldo Garcia, program coordinator for the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (link).

In related news, Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia is complaining about ICE taking a long time to respond to their 287(g) requests (link).

Immigration2008a · Thu, 04/10/2008 - 08:57 · · Importance: 1