County signs on to federal ICE agreement

The Prince William County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday authorized the county police chief to enter a new agreement with the U.S. Department of Immigration.

Under the agreement, police will target illegal aliens who have committed serious “type 1” offenses, like murder, rape and robbery. When a person has been arrested and processed at the jail, and have been determined to be inside the country illegally, police will issue a detainer and refer them to Immigration Customs Enforcement.

Officials at the Prince William County jail have issued 2,041 detainers and have delivered 1,923 prisoners to ICE since the original 287(g) agreement was signed in 2007, said jail superintendent Col. Peter A. Meletis.

The 287(g) accord between the county and the U.S. Department of Immigration allows local law enforcement officers to enforce certain immigration laws in an effort to “combat specific challenges in their communities,” according to the ICE Web site.

The agreement mirrors a previous agreement signed with federal immigration authorities three years ago.

“Operationally, this will not change or make any significant changes in the way this police department has been operating,” said Prince William police Chief Charlie T. Deane.

Under the current system, if an illegal immigrant is convicted of a crime, that person completes their sentence and then is transferred into ICE custody.

Those who commit “type 2” or other offenses will not be referred to ICE unless they have had previous dealings with immigration officials. ICE would identify those suspects as illegally entering the country for a second time.

The newly signed agreement comes as the jail on Tuesday began fingerprinting inmates with a new process that will allow them to immediately identify criminal aliens.

Now when jail officers take fingerprints, the records will simultaneously be checked against both FBI criminal history records and a records database kept by the Department of Homeland Security, according to press release from U.S. Customs and Immigration spokeswoman Cori W. Bassett.

Fingerprints were taken and then later checked against FBI information.

The initiative, called Secure Communities, is administered by ICE and is now offered to more than 12 state and local law enforcement agencies in Prince William County that use the Prince William–Manassas Regional Jail, Bassett stated.

The program has already been implemented in 80 counties, including Fairfax, and is expected to be offered nationwide by 2013.

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.