Note: Late word Thurs. 12:30 pm AZst) is that the 50 ICE personnel
not yet there. But five have shown up, that makes for about one per
shift, as compared to MCSO having 10 to 12 per shift. Not
responsible for azrep spin.
Maricopa County Sheriff's officers turn in federal credentials
by JJ Hensley - Dec. 21, 2011 09:40 PM
The Arizona Republic
Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Wednesday made a show of his detention officers
turning in badges that came with their authorization to conduct
federal immigration screenings in Maricopa County jails.
But federal officials say immigration enforcement at the jails will
not change following a decision to revoke the authorization and take
over the duties themselves.
The Sheriff's Office has had an agreement with Immigration and
Customs Enforcement since 2007 that authorized detention officers to
conduct immigration screenings on every inmate booked into a Maricopa
County jail.
Under that agreement, Arpaio's officers screened nearly 475,000
inmates since the agreement took effect, placing immigration
detainers on about 44,000 inmates that prevent them from leaving jail
until federal officials have reviewed their files.
Federal officials, however, removed that authority last week in the
wake of a Justice Department report that accused the Sheriff's Office
of violating civil rights and discriminating against Latino residents
and inmates.
In response, 92 detention officers joined Arpaio at a news conference
Wednesday where they turned in their ICE credentials.
A federal Department of Homeland Security official said a contingency
plan already is in place that dedicates 50 immigration officers to
enforce immigration laws at the jail.
The sole responsibility of the 50 ICE officers is to respond,
apprehend and arrest people for federal immigration violations, the
official said.
The ICE officers will provide coverage at the jail 24 hours a day, 7
days a week, the official said.
Under the plan, all people booked into the jail will have their
fingerprints automatically screened through a DHS immigration
computer database as part of the federal government's Secure
Communities program, the official said. ICE officers at the jail will
place detainers on every person who the database shows is either an
immigrant in the country illegally or is a legal immigrant accused of
committing an aggravated felony that makes him or her deportable from
the United States.
The official pointed out that the DHS immigration database is not
foolproof. Some illegal immigrants may not show up in the database if
they entered the country illegally and have never been arrested by
the police or apprehended by federal immigration officials. To
prevent illegal immigrants not in the database from slipping through
the cracks, ICE officials will interview every person booked into the
jail, unless the database shows they are naturalized U.S. citizens
who are not deportable or are legal immigrants accused of petty
crimes who are also not deportable.
The DHS official rebutted claims by county officials that criminal
immigrants could be released into the community without the 287(g)
agreement because they can no longer be held without bail under state
law.
The DHS official said the federal ICE officers will place detainers
on all criminal immigrants identified in the jail and instruct the
Sheriff's Office not to release them on the streets. ICE officials
also will instruct the Sheriff's Office to hand over to ICE all
criminal immigrants with detainers upon completion of their cases.
"ICE will take custody placing, them in a federal detention facility
in Arizona while they face deportation proceedings," the official said.
In addition, ICE will provide immigration information requested by
the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for any arrests by police
agencies other than the Sheriff's Office. In light of the Justice
Department's findings of discrimination, arrests by the Sheriff's
Office will be handled on a case-by-case basis, the official said.
ICE will provide immigration information related to MCSO arrests only
if federal officers are satisfied that no racial profiling led to the
arrest, the official said.
The Sheriff's Office books about 300 inmates into jail each day.
Sheriff's Detention Chief Mike Olson said the agency placed
immigration-related detainers on about 15 inmates each day.
The number of detainers placed on inmates has dropped since federal
officials took over the program last week, Arpaio said. Since then,
he said, federal officials have placed immigration-related detainers
on three inmates.
An ICE official could neither confirm nor deny that total but
insisted that undocumented inmates will not be allowed to "walk free"
as Arpaio has claimed.
The 50 ICE officers dedicated to the jail consist of officers from
the Phoenix office as well as ICE officers detailed to this
assignment from other states.
They will continue to work at the jail indefinitely, the DHS official
said.
If Apraio agrees to cooperate with the Department of Justice to
resolve the issues in the report, ICE could reinstate the 287(g)
agreement, allowing jail officers to resume enforcing federal
immigration laws, the official said.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/
2011/12/21/20111221maricopa-county-sheriffs-officers-turn-federal-
credentials.html#ixzz1hHvNNx8Q
Note: This story has reappeared, along with many comments. One
local claims the district does not verify the docs.
DUSD officials following up on student residency
By Bruce Whetten
Douglas Dispatch
Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 2:50 PM MST
http://www.douglasdispatch.com/articles/2011/12/13/news/
doc4ed69c2e7f803843548072.txt
Douglas Unified School Superintendent Sheila Rogers said last week
her district is doing all it can to make sure students attending
school in Douglas are legal residents.
"We have a new student center and anybody that registers their child
has to go to the new student center," she said. "They are required to
show three proofs of residence not three proofs of citizenship."
Rogers said they need to have a utility bill with their name and
address on it, a rental agreement with their name and address on it,
a mortgage payment.
"We make sure they have all these documents and we are very strict
about it," she said. One of the things that is happening right now,
Rogers said is that families across the line are going to Bisbee to
the Court House and signing over legal guardianship to family members
over here.
"If they do that there is nothing we can do," she said. "We have to
accept that."
If the guardianship is transferred Rogers makes sure the paper work
showing transfer of guardianship is brought in to the student center.
"We do checks all the time," Rogers said. "If we suspect something is
wrong we will send out our security people to investigate."
The Superintendent said some of her security people down to the
border last week and saw a number of students crossing.
"There were two van loads that went to the charter schools," she said.
Rogers said her staff is very diligent about this but the districts
hands are tied if the courts allow people to become guardians.
This process has been going on for a while she said, but after the
recent failure of the budget override one of the comments made by
some of the voters was that it failed because of the large number of
students crossing the border each day to attend school in Douglas.
"It was some misinformation that I want to get out now," she said.
Rogers said the district will continue to be very diligent in this
process and will continue on a regular basis to check things out.
Each district receives approximately $4,200 per year per student by
the state.
Rogers said there was a situation a while back where another district
in southern Arizona had to pay money back to the state because it was
discovered they had students from Mexico attending public schools in
their community.
"We don't want to have money taken away from us if anything were to
happen," Rogers said. "We do not look the other way."
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