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Thursday, April 10, 2008
Immigration screening ahead
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Minutes into the tour, Maj. Carl Sims had to excuse himself.
“Stay here!” the top administrator at the Gwinnett County jail yelled at me.
Off he ran down the hallway, joined by a dozen or so sheriff’s deputies.
Their destination: the kitchen area. The reason: Two of the 2,569 inmates were fighting.
Seconds later, the young men emerged, handcuffed, and were escorted away.
The altercation served up the only drama Wednesday when the Badie Tour visited the jail, located off University Parkway in Lawrenceville.
A program that screens inmates for immigration violations is what brought me there. It’s called 287(g),, and it trains local law enforcement officers how to identify illegal immigrants and to refer them to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for possible deportation.
At some point in October, deputies will be able to screen inmates they suspect of being here illegally. They’ll have access to federal databases that can determine criminal background and legal status.
After the illegal immigrant’s case is adjudicated, he or she will be picked up by ICE officials and transported to a holding facility in metro Atlanta. They may be deported, something many Gwinnett residents would cheer.
“This is where it all starts for 287(g),” said Sims as we stood in the prebooking area. Here, mug shots are taken and the same questions are asked of every person in custody.
“Where were you born?”
“What’s your country of origin?”
Last year, the jail processed 12,000 foreign-born inmates on charges ranging from traffic citations to homicide. Their incarceration lasted anywhere from three days - the jail average - to months and years.
“We suspect a large number were illegal.” said Sims, a former Los Angeles homicide detective. “It’s difficult to track them.”
Capt. Jon Spear joined us before we left the prebooking area. He, primarily, is responsible for making the jail’s 287(g) program a reality. He showed me a room where screening equipment had been stored, still boxed up.
“This will get the process rolling quicker,” said Spear, noting that in-house screening prevents an ICE officer from having to drive to the jail and run the checks, thus saving time.
Like Sims, Spear stressed that the only people who will be screened to confirm legal status are those who have been arrested and make it to the county jail.
“There has to be an arrest,” Spear said. “That’s the big thing that people don’t understand about the program.”
Initially, the county plans to cross-train 18 deputies for a program whose annual cost will be nearly $5 million a year. By no means is this the end-all and be-all to illegal immigration. It’s simply a mechanism till the jobs dry up that lure illegal immigrants across the border or the federal government gets a better handle on things.
I asked Spear if it makes sense to pursue 287(g) at a time when the county lacks enough deputies to fully staff Tower 1, the new jail addition. Some of the tower units are empty. Inmates occasionally have to bunk three to a unit in the original part of the facility.
“The two go hand in hand,” he said.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail:rbadie@ajc.com. �
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