U.S. Congressman Frank R. Wolf-10th District, Virginia sent a letter Tuesday to the Department of Homeland Security in reference to the Immigration & Customs Enforcement 287 (g) program at the Prince William-Manassas Regional Adult Detention Center.
Addressed to Secretary Michael Chertoff, Wolf states that he is troubled that ICE has “not upheld its obligations in the timely removal of illegal detainees from the detention facility.” Included in Wolf’s letter is a copy of the letter sent to Homeland Security by jail board chairman Patrick J. Hurd on March 21.
The letter cites factors making the transfer of prisoners to ICE slow and cumbersome as well as the lack of responsiveness by ICE on this issue.
In that letter, Hurd claims that the jail is experiencing a delay of almost four weeks from the time it notifies ICE that paperwork has been processed to the time ICE removes detainees from the facility.
According to the agreement, ICE is supposed take those who have served their sentences within 48-hours.
According to Hurd, nearly 1,200 inmates have been processed since July and 632 have had ICE detainers placed on them by jail staff. This workload is taking its toll on staff, said Hurd, and the slow removal of prisoners is not helping matters.
Hurd’s letter lists four options to resolve what it calls an unacceptable situation: ICE coming on a set day every week to remove detainees, returning to original stated plan of processing only “worst of the worst felons,” releasing any alien subject to an ICE detainer after 48 hours and completion of all local charges by April 15 or the termination of the agreement altogether.
After meeting with ICE officials last week, jail superintendent Peter A. Meletis said ICE told them they will be “rectifying and solving problems based on the amount of people we’re booking [at the jail].”
Meletis would not comment further on the issue.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement