It is about time! We have a huge problem with illegal immigrants committing crimes in Charlotte. Officials believe there are more than 350 suspected illegal immigrants in the Mecklenburg County Jail system.ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is training ten deputies and two sergeants with the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office to document 100 percent of illegal immigrants that come in to the jail system in Mecklenburg County.
According to WCNC, "Every immigrant coming into the system will be asked where they were born. If it is not the U.S. that person will go through a screening process. Those that turn out to be illegal immigrants will be documented in ICE's national database and no matter what their crime is, they will be given notice to stand before an immigration judge in Atlanta.The program basically streamlines the state and federal processes for prosecuting both their crimes and their illegal immigrant status.
"Expand the national database, allow us to know who's here in the United States and put them, the criminal aliens, into the process of being removed," explained Jeffrey Jordan with U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement.
ICE officials hope to remove criminal illegal immigrants more swiftly but they said it is not an easy process. "The intricacies of that law and they're going to have to interview aliens and through the interview they're going to have to determine their alienage. They're going to have to make that call whether this individual is an illegal alien or not and the last thing that they want to do or we want to do is put into removal proceedings a U.S. citizen," said Jordan.
The program will end on April 6 and authorities said that by that time they should have the equipment in place to allow deputies to do these new tasks.
Other Sources:
WCNC
WSOC-TV
News 14 Carolina