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DEL.ICIO.USYes, borders are a federal matter, but…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Slightly wonkish here, but you’ll remember that, last July, Neil Warren in Cobb County became the first Georgia sheriff to join a federal program that allowed certain deputies to be trained to identify the illegal immigrants who peopled his jail.
“It’s been ‘catch and release, ‘” Warren said at the time. “That’s why I got into this. The federal government has not provided the resources. They have not done their job.”
Last October, Warren’s experimentation earned him a place at the side of then-Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson, on his first swing through Georgia.
Not quite a year later, Cobb County appears to have been at the front of a stampede by local law enforcement agencies across the country:
According to stateline.org, a kind of clearinghouse for state and local government issues:
At the start of 2007, only eight police agencies took part in the 287(g) program; now a total of 47 police agencies in 17 states participate, with 90 more waiting to sign up. To date, more than 50,000 people have been deported or have been marked for deportation under the 287(g) program, according to [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]. More than half of those were processed since October.
But ICE is short of money to expand the program, which reimburses local police agencies for holding prisoners, pays for a five-week training course for participating officers and provides the technology to allow those cops to access federal immigration databases.
In Georgia, sheriff’s departments in Hall and Whitfield counties joined the program this year.
Comments
By Buzzm1
May 13, 2008 11:41 AM | Link to this
The “Lack Of Money” is going to be a constant, especially with any legislation, or funding that is badly needed.
As American citizens, we need to very actively participate in the financial decisions of our country.
We need to end the War In Iraq ASAP. Not only had this needless, and mostly senseless, war, cost us 700 billion dollars to this point, but our future generations are also indebted long term becuase of this war.
Just yesterday, I read that long term care of our disbled veterans, so far, will cost us 59 billion dollars per year ad infinitum.
Beyond the ending of this war, we also need to begin cutting deeply in the military industrial complex defense budget, which is costing us 500 billion dollars a year.
The U.S. defense budget is more than all other countries combined, spend. To say that there are better ways to use this money, surely qualifies as one of the great understatements of the year, if not this century.
By BurningAtlanta
May 13, 2008 11:42 AM | Link to this
Crime is everyone’s business and most illegal aliens ARE criminals. Illegal entry is a federal misdemeanor the first time and a felony for additional entries. Pew estimates that 60% entered illegally.
Add in the numbers that use fake or bogus federal documents and that’s a whole lot of felons and we haven’t even gotten into the numbers of other crimes such as murder, rape, etc..
There’s no way the federal government can enforce the laws by itself. In all of ICE’s 2007 FY there were less than 5,000 workplace arrests.
Every jail in this nation should be mandated to check the immigration status of every arrestee. And every illegal alien that is discovered should be turned over to ICE.
By Jimi
May 13, 2008 12:09 PM | Link to this
The Feds have no desire to enforce the immigration laws on the books, much less increase their responsibility. They are interested in regularizing the flow, just enough to feed the slave labor demands without upsetting the masses. They will manufacture distractions if the flow becomes too noticable. They wish to re-populate the country with malable peasants that will follow their leaders without questions. This is the best way to insure cooperation from the people, if you don’t get it, simply replace them with new one’s that will. In 50 years whites will be a minority and will be taxed to the ends of the earth to pay for all the new peasants’ needs. We will be a third world nation by then, with 95% of the peasants at the bottom and 5% of the elites on top. Enjoy your future or change it.
By June
May 13, 2008 1:33 PM | Link to this
Has anyone ever thought of cutting the space program? We’ve been to the moon, okay? that should put billions back into the economy to build the fence. We have to demand that the new administration do that. Then stop this insane war. Bring our military home and line the border with them - armed. Styage raids on companies every day who hire illegals, and send the owners to jail too. Stop the anchor baby fiasco and start deporting. There needn’t be any reason except they are here illegally.
By American worker
May 13, 2008 1:48 PM | Link to this
discussing illegal immigration is obviously racist.