Criminal database access included in crackdown
Federal immigration officials plan to place at least one agent in every jail nationwide in the next few years.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement also plans to expand its immigration crackdown by opening access to its criminal databases to more local law enforcement agencies.
ICE currently has a federal official in every state and federal jail, but officers in only about 10 percent of local jails nationwide, said James Pendergraph, executive director of ICE’s Office of State and Local Coordination.
The goal, he said, is to put one in every local jail in the near future.
Pendergraph also said he hoped ICE would expand local officers’ access to federal databases. Local officers can check criminals’ fingerprints against a Department of Homeland Security database of immigration violators, but he said he hoped to expand the program to allow officers to check entire immigrant databases.
The estimated cost to remove convicted criminal immigrants in all local, state and federal prisons is between $2 billion and $3 billion annually.
When asked about a timeline for the expansion of access to immigrant databases, he told an audience which was largely comprised of law enforcement officials, “You run for re-election every four years, and that comes up fast. I can tell you that this is going to be faster.”
Prince William Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart said he would welcome such an expansion.
“Our police clearly want access to as much information as possible, as it allows them to … better identify dangerous criminals,” he said. “Combining [local] law enforcement power with access to federal law enforcement agencies … significantly increases the ability to catch dangerous criminals.”
Loudoun County is hoping to further use an ICE training program for local officers.
“There is hope that in the future we can send members of the [Adult Detention Center] through the program,” said Loudoun Sheriff’s Office Spokesman Kraig Troxellhe.
As of July, 765 local enforcement officers have been trained by ICE officials across the nation. A total of 55 jurisdictions participate in the program, and about 80 others have applied, including Fairfax County.
In the past two years, ICE has taken 66,000 illegal immigrants into custody.
