Local officials in northern Virginia are trying to do away with a program that allows law enforcement to collaborate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement despite the recent arrest of an illegal immigrant on an alleged deadly hit and run.
Officials in Prince William County are currently discussing about ending a partnership program with federal immigration authorities once new jail board appointees are named, according to the Daily Caller.
As the debate continues, an illegal immigrant was arrested after allegedly slamming his vehicle into a 62-year-old man, killing him, and then speeding off.
“Walner Alberto Pichinte Echeverria, 35, an unlawfully present Salvadoran national, was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on May 21 by the Prince William County Police Department in Manassas, Virginia, after his arrest May 18 for felony hit and run,” ICE spokeswoman Kaitlyn Pote said in a statement.
“On May 19, a designated immigration officer with the 287(g) Program at the Prince William-Manassas Regional Adult Detention Center in Manassas, Virginia, trained to identify and process removable aliens with criminal charges, served Pichinte a warrant of arrest and an immigration detainer,” she said. “He remains in ICE custody pending the outcome of his removal proceedings.”
The 287(g) program in question allows Prince William County to verify the immigration status of suspects arrested and charged with a crime. If it is determined that the individual is living in the United States unlawfully, they are handed over to ICE.
“The goal of 287(g) is to enhance public safety by identifying aliens, lodging immigration detainers, and initiating removal proceedings by issuing charging documents on criminal and removable aliens booked into the jail facility,” ICE said in a statement.
“There’s nothing wrong with law enforcement working with law enforcement to keep your community safe,” Tom Homan, the former acting director of ICE, said. “Now those on the Left that want to attack the 287(g) program and support sanctuary cities, here’s your battle cry.”
