Immigration inquiries at N.C. jails lead to more deportations
By Veronica Gonzalez
Staff Writer, Star News Online
January 29, 2009
In North Carolina, a trip to jail could end up in deportation.
More than 2,000 people arrested for violating state laws in the past year were flagged for deportation once they went to jail.
Jailers started checking inmates’ immigration status after a state law took effect last year requiring them to check identities of foreign-born people charged with felonies or driving while impaired.
In addition to the 2,099 destined to be deported last year, another 2,733 illegal immigrant inmates were identified through a partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, according to the N.C. Sheriffs’ Association.
From October 2007 to the end of 2008, 7,000 people in the Atlanta region faced removal proceedings because they were found to be here illegally through local jail and prison checks, according to ICE. The Atlanta region is made up of North and South Carolina and Georgia.
Overall, the number of identity queries run by jails nearly tripled between 2007 and 2008 to 16,996.
State jails ran nearly 17,000 queries, but immigration officials only interviewed a total of 6,884 of those inmates, the sheriffs’ association reported.
The inmate immigration checks became a requirement after a law sponsored by state Sen. Julia Boseman, D-New Hanover took effect last year. She had sponsored the legislation in response to voters’ demands for a crackdown on unlawful immigration after the federal government failed to reform the law.
Locally, New Hanover County jailers ran queries on 439 inmates last year; Brunswick County jail ran 85 and Pender County checked 58. Pender County flagged three inmates last year. One was released, one was taken by immigration and one is waiting to be picked up, said jail Capt. Samenthia Jones. The first two jails didn’t track those placed under deportation proceedings.
The New Hanover County jail beefed up its inquiries even more this year when it began tapping into a federal immigration fingerprint database.
Immigration officials are immediately notified if a murder suspect or an inmate who has snuck in and out of the country repeatedly is arrested, said New Hanover County Lt. J.L. Simmons.
“If we get terrorists or anyone who’s not supposed to be here, this is a way for us to say, ‘You need to come get him,’ ” Simmons said.
A local immigration attorney, Helen Jugovic, said her biggest problems with the identity checks had to do with inmates being led to a telephone to speak with ICE officials, basically outing themselves without any legal representation. She also was unhappy with the amount of time inmates sometimes have to wait before immigration officials pick them up. Immigration has 48 hours from the time they are notified to pick up an inmate, but weekends don’t count, so inmates will end up staying longer than they should, she said.
“ICE is a 24-hour operation,” Jugovic said. “This is an issue statewide where jails are not making their best efforts to notify ICE on time and ... it’s taking away their liberty.”
Earlier this year, New Hanover County joined six other state counties that also have the capability to check the immigration fingerprint database. And the Department of Homeland Security plans to equip most counties in the country with the new technology during the next three years or so.
For those worried that New Hanover Sheriff’s deputies are going to become immigration agents, Simmons said “we will never have contact with people who are illegal unless they get arrested.”
Veronica Gonzalez: 343-2008, veronica.gonzalez@starnewsonline.com
http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20090129/ARTICLES/901290280/-1/LIVING?Title=Immigration_inquiries_at_N_C__jails_lead_to_more_deportations
