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Item Title: Partnership between US Immigration and
Customs Enforcement Agency and the Wake County Sheriff's Office
Specific
Action Requested:
That the Board of Commissioners approves the creation of 12 new
positions for the Wake County Sheriff's Office to implement a program for the
Wake County Sheriff's Office to partner with the US Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agency.
Item Summary:
Currently
there are four Sheriff’s Offices in North Carolina that have Memoranda of
Agreement with the US Department of Homeland Security to have designated
officers receive appropriate training and function under the supervision of
sworn US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. Those four offices
are: Mecklenburg County (2/2006), Alamance County (01/2007), Gaston County
(02/2007), and Cabarrus County (03/2007). Many other counties in the state have
also applied to participate in this program.
Section
287(g) of the “Immigration and Nationality Act” authorizes local law
enforcement agencies to work with ICE to identify, process, and detain
immigration offenders encountered during arrest for other criminal activity.
Once the Wake County Board of Commissioners approves the implementation of this
program, the Sheriff’s Office enters into a Memorandum of Agreement with the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency to implement this new program. These
local programs are conducted in the county jails after individuals have been
arrested for some criminal activity. Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison is
prepared to enter into a partnership with ICE to implement a 287(g) program
should the Wake County Board of Commissioners agree to provide the necessary
staffing for this program.
Alamance
County indicated that 30% of the inmates processed through their jail were
identified as “non-US born.” Wake County processes over 35,000 inmates each
year. If we had the same experience as Alamance County, that could mean almost
10,000 inmates would be identified as "non-US born" in Wake County
detention facilities. Mecklenburg County estimates that approximately 11% of
those processed are non-US born. Over 50% of those non-US born in Mecklenburg
County that were processed in the jail were identified to be processed for
removal. Wake County CCBI, which provides booking activity for the jail,
estimates that 17% of those processed in booking are considered non-US born. We
expect that the number of inmates that would be identified to be processed for
removal would mirror Mecklenburg County's.
When
the program is implemented in Wake County, the Wake County Sheriff’s Office
staff will interview foreign national inmates to determine whether there is
probable cause for an immigration violation. We will use equipment and
technology provided by ICE to fingerprint and photograph non-US born arrestees
and to search their database to determine if there are immigration violations.
In addition to fingerprinting, photographing, and interviewing these
individuals, officers will prepare documentation to place aliens in deportation
proceedings, and prepare any documentation to deport aliens after their State
criminal case has been adjudicated. Staff will also refer criminal aliens to ICE
for any other potential criminal prosecutions. The head of this unit, a
lieutenant, will also spend a considerable amount of time working closely with
the district attorney’s office to assure that proper processing occurs in the
State courts.
The
WCSO will operate the ICE unit 24-7 with two detention officers on duty at all
times. This will require eight detention officers with no additional officers
included for relief for sick, vacation, and/or holidays. Two sergeants will
also be employed to supervise the officers and to provide the quality control
review of all cases. A detention lieutenant will be responsible for managing
the program, being the liaison between the Sheriff’s Office and the District
Attorney, and being the liaison with the investigations division of the WCSO.
An administrative position will also be needed to handle any billing of the
federal government for housing detainees, compiling statistics, analyzing
trends, and reporting the activities of the unit to various federal agencies.
The cost to provide this program is
estimated to be $539,341 for on-going costs for salaries, benefits, and the use
of one vehicle. One-time costs are expected to be $89,975. This includes
purchase of uniforms and equipment for the officers and one vehicle for the
lieutenant. For the current fiscal
year, the Sheriff’s Department does not anticipate incurring cost until late
Winter, early Spring 2008. If additional funds are needed for the Sheriff’s
Office budget this current fiscal year, a wrap-up ordinance in June 2008 will
be utilized to correct any operating deficits.
Attachments:
2. Budget Memo