North Carolina Sheriffs Association

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North Carolina Sheriffs Association

• Illegal Immigration Project
• Tony Queen

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Project Goals

• Provide technical assistance and advice to
  Sheriffs on Immigration and Customs Enforcement
• Provide technical assistance to Sheriffs seeking
  to negotiate a MOA for participation in the 287
  (g) program
• Reimburse Sheriffs for training costs and
  replacement personnel to participate in training

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Executive Steering Committee

• Guiding Body with the Goal to ensure the
  cooperation and collaboration among all
• Partnership of Senior ICE Officials
• 10 Sheriffs from across the state
• NC Sheriffs Association Staff
• First in the nation and is a model that ICE plans
  to use nationwide

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NC 287 (g) Jail Enforcement Model

• Operates in county Jails
• Sheriffs personnel are trained by ICE
• Authorized by ICE
• Supervised by ICE
• Does not involve ROUND-UPS in the Community or at
  work sites.
• ICE trained Deputies do not participate in
  roadblocks

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How the 287 (g) Jail Enforcement Model Works

• It only applies to Criminals who also happen to
  be illegal aliens.
• Persons identified by the program self select
  by committing a crime and being arrested.
• Illegal aliens in NC who are not arrested will
  not be identified thru the 287 (g) Jail
  Enforcement Model program in NC

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How the 287(g) Jail Enforcement Model Works

• An arrest is made by a Law Enforcement Officer.
  Magistrate sets bond. Arrestee is booked into
  County jail.
• Arrestee is interviewed to determine if they are
  foreign born or US citizens.
• Fingerprint checks are made via the IAFIS (FBI)
  System and the IDENT (Homeland Security) System
  to determine Identity
• Deputies and ICE will be notified of prior
  convictions and whether the person has an
  Immigration record

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Requirements for Participation by Sheriffs
Offices

• Meet the Detention Facility Standards and have
  ample available Bed space
• Negotiate a Memo of Agreement between ICE and the
  Sheriffs Office
• Sheriffs Personnel Graduate from a four week
  training Course on Immigration Law Procedures,
  Civil Rights laws, etc.
• Operate under the supervision of ICE personnel
  assigned to the Sheriffs Office

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Counties without 287(g) Jail Enforcement Model

• System handles processing arrestees differently
• Felony and/or DWI claiming a foreign place of
  birth will be subject to an Illegal Alien Query
  (IAQ)
• IAQ is only a name check, 80 are returned with
  no match
• Interoperability will change the landscape

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Immigration Alien Queries Training

• 12/10/07 Caldwell Co. 93
• 12/11/07 Haywood Co. 102
• 12/12/07 Chatham Co. 99
• 12/13/07 Edgecombe Co. 101
• 12/14/07 Duplin Co. 93
• 02/13/08 Wake Co. 96
• Total 584
• 96 Counties Participated

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Identifying Criminal Aliens

• Secure Communities first goal is to identify all
  criminal aliens held in jails and prisons
• The program relies on the sharing of national and
  local immigration and law enforcement data
  through a technology and process called
  IAFIS/IDENT Interoperability
• IAFIS is FBIs fingerprint database
• IDENT is Homeland Securitys fingerprint database

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Identifying Criminal Aliens

• The process will work as follows
• Local officers take fingerprints of all persons
  booked in the jail and submit them to the FBI and
  ICE through the SBI
• The prints will automatically be checked against
  IAFIS and IDENT for potential matches
• Local officers and ICE will be notified of
  previous convictions and whether the person has
  an immigration record
• Along with the fingerprints, booking information
  will include whether the person has declared a
  foreign place of birth

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ICE Processing Criminal Aliens

• Upon receipt of notification through
  Interoperability, ICE will prioritize and process
  criminal aliens
• ICE will focus initially on processing those
  criminal aliens that pose the greatest threat to
  their communities such as violent and major drug
  offenders
• For those aliens convicted of serious offenses,
  ICE will detain and remove the individual after
  they complete their North Carolina sentence
• For those aliens who may have been convicted in
  the past of a serious offense and are now booked
  for a minor offense, ICE will seek to take them
  into custody immediately

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Interoperability in NC

• Interoperability will be completed in 3 phases
• Pilot (Began in Sept. 2006)
• Allowed Access to Limited Data
• Limited users (NC sites added in July 2008)
• Working out technical challenges
• Initial Rollout (Oct. 2008)
• Begin full search of IDENT Database
• Single request with multiple responses
• Full System (effective TBA)
• Increase workload capability
• Consolidated responses

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Questions??

• Tony Queen, Director of Special Projects
• Ed Brigham, Immigration Specialist
• NC Sheriffs Association
• ncsa_at_ncsheriffs.net
• 919-SHERIFF (743-7433)