Prince William County has turned over more than 2,000 suspected illegal immigrants to the federal government since July 2007, according to the county jail superintendent.
The county issued 2,352 detainers and released 2,091 inmates to Immigration and Customs Enforcement from July 2007 through January 2010.
In 2007, Prince William began participating in a federal program that allows local law enforcement officials to enforce certain federal immigration laws. There are currently 63 active partnerships in the program, known as 287(g), according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Inmates released to ICE by
Prince William County
Year* Detainers issued Inmates released to ICE
2008 860 747
2009 954 985
2010** 538 359
Total 2,352 2,091
*Denotes fiscal year, which runs from July 1 to June 30
**Through January 2010
Source: Prince William County governmentLast fall, the county supplemented its 287(g) partnership with a program called Secure Communities, which allows local jails to check arrestees’ fingerprints against biometric-based immigration records held by DHS, as well as criminal records held by the FBI.
"Some jails just operate only with Secure Communities; we added it to our 287(g)," said Col. Pete Meletis, superintendent of the Prince William-Manassas Adult Detention Center. "It’s another database that gives us more information for our staff to be able to do their investigations and determine whether … someone is illegal or not."
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/…
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