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Las Vegas police submitted nearly 2,000 inmate names to immigration officials
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
The Metropolitan Police Department forwarded the names of nearly 2,000 inmates to federal officials during the first 10 months of a partnership that allows specially trained corrections officers to start deportation proceedings against immigration violators.
The agreement with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officially began Nov. 15 and is limited to the Clark County Detention Center.
Nearly 10,000 county jail inmates through Sept. 19 were identified as being born outside the country or their identities were in question, said officer Jacinto Rivera, a Las Vegas police spokesman.
Police sent the names of 1,849 inmates who were determined to be in the country illegally to ICE for possible deportation.
It’s unknown how many of those inmates were deported. ICE officials said today the agency doesn’t track removals that way. Illegal immigrants referred to the agency by local law enforcement officials become part of ICE’s larger caseload.
Those cases can drag on for months or even years.
The Police Department’s partnership with immigration officials is narrower in scope than that of Maricopa County in Arizona and does not allow officers to arrest people for immigration violations. Only when an individual has been arrested on unrelated charges can they be screened for possible deportation.
Sheriff Doug Gillespie has repeatedly insisted the partnership is meant to target violent criminals.
Police did not forward to immigration officials the names of an additional 1,808 inmates who also were identified as being in the country illegally, because those inmates had no violent criminal history, Rivera said.
Overall, 62,803 people were booked into the county jail between Nov. 15, 2008, and Sept. 19, 2009.
Hispanic and civil rights groups have criticized Section 287(g) partnerships, named for the corresponding section of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act. They say the partnerships target Hispanics and could lead to racial profiling and make people afraid to report crimes.
“Evidence is mounting across the country that 287(g) programs are being run in problematic ways,” said Maggie McLetchie, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.
“We understand federal immigration laws need to be enforced, but that’s the job of federal immigration officers, not the job of” Las Vegas police, she said.
Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.
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Lets start buying bus tickets for illegals to WASHINGTON DC i'll spring for my share