As previously blogged, L.A. County sheriff's deputies will be trained to ask about the immigration status of inmates and contact the feds when necessary.

This report discusses it and has some interesting quotes:

Over protests from immigrant rights groups, Los Angeles County sheriff's personnel will be trained by federal authorities to conduct jailhouse interviews to report on convicted inmates' immigration status.

The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 last week to approve the proposal, which Sheriff Leroy Baca had been attempting for several weeks to put on the Supervisor's agenda...

[Dissenting L.A. County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke] said she heard the impetus behind the agreement was a desire by federal officials to collect data on every foreign-born inmate - guilty or innocent - before a court could release them.

Sheriff Baca's representative, Chuck Jackson, did not confirm what Burke heard, nor did he have an answer when Burke asked him, "What if (foreign-born inmates) don't want to answer questions?"

..."We believe this is a first step in the wrong direction because we think it will lead to a further blurring of the line between local law enforcement and the federal immigration authority," said CHIRLA's Alvaro Huerta...

Earlier this week, Nativo Lopez, president of the Mexican American Political Association (MAPA) said that his group would urge Latinos not to cooperate with sheriffs or to support any tax increase to pay for the hiring of more police officers if the proposal was approved.

"We will launch a broad intensive campaign in the Latino community to not cooperate with the local police under any circumstances - to report crime, come forward as witnesses, provide information, attend police-community events - if this proposed MOU is approved by the L.A. County Supervisors," said Lopez...

For the scoop on CHIRLA, see "Los Angeles is the Ellis Island of the West Coast". Note that they weren't just a quote source for the L.A. Times in that case, they were also a quote source for the City of L.A.: The "L.A. Opens Office of Immigrant Affairs" story just gets worse and worse.

And, see "Your Nativo Lopez summary" for more on that fine community leader.