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Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: 10 deputies to receive migrant training RIVERSIDE – Riverside County sheriff's deputies will ferret out and help the U.S. government deport undocumented immigrants arrested on criminal charges, under a plan adopted Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors. The board, in a unanimous vote and with little opposition from the public, agreed to have the U.S. Department of Homeland Security train 10 deputies to enforce immigration laws. The four-week federal program will train deputies to identify and investigate criminal undocumented immigrants, and will cover such topics as interrogation, background checks and preparing affidavits for deportation, according to a report submitted to the board by Sheriff Bob Doyle. “We'll be sending 10 deputies for training,” Undersheriff Neil Lingle said. “I am not sure whether we will expand (the program). It must be evaluated first.” The agreement with Homeland Security comes at a sensitive time as protests against the pending anti- immigration legislation now stalled in the U.S. Senate have spread across the country over the past several weeks. Among other issues, protesters oppose making it a felony to be an undocumented resident in the United States. Lingle downplayed the political undertones of the program, noting that the motive for training deputies for limited immigration enforcement is to prevent illegal residents convicted of crimes from returning to the county. He told the board that the number of illegal immigrant prisoners in Riverside County jails fluctuates between 10 percent and 25 percent of the inmate population. It costs the county an average of $29,700 per year to house each inmate, he said. Supervisor John Tavaglione noted that it costs an average of $5 million a year to house illegal immigrant inmates, while the federal government reimburses the county $1.5 million annually. He said training deputies for immigration work is no different than training them to identify gang members. “It's the right thing to do,” Tavaglione said. Lingle said the Sheriff's Department had sought the training program since last August, but had not been able to obtain the necessary approvals from the U.S. government until recently. “It was very difficult to get certification in Washington, D.C.,” he said. Opposition to the training program appeared minimal; just two speakers addressed the Board of Supervisors. Greg Bloom of Palm Springs told the supervisors that immigration investigations are the purview of the federal government. The county does not have the resources to take on added enforcement duties, he said. Esther Portillo argued that the Riverside County Sheriff's Department must first address what she called the “racial profiling” of the immigrant community before taking on the role of identifying illegal aliens in custody. Children are often apprehended in sweeps of criminal immigrants, she said. “With raids of immigrants, you are making working-class people criminals,” Portillo said. Under the new program, deputies will take photos, fingerprints and prepare affidavits regarding undocumented immigrants who have committed felonies, according to the sheriff's report. Once the inmate's case is adjudicated, he or she will be deported. Inmates also will be ineligible for bail or release on their own recognizance. There are about 233,000 undocumented immigrants in Riverside County, where the jails have been at capacity since 2002, and about 12 million nationwide. The 10 deputie will be trained by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, personnel. The federal government will pay for all training, while the Sheriff's Department will cover the salary and benefits of deputies during the training period – at a total cost to the county of $465,000, Lingle said. The undersheriff said the Sheriff's Department's responsibility for an undocumented immigrant inmate ends when he or she finishes a county jail sentence. ICE then takes on the task of actual deportation.
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#1. To: Tauzero (#0)
That's good news, but these #s are a bit skimpy. Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Imperial counties have so many uncounted illegals. Among the "counted" illegals, many are purchasing homes in the large housing tracts being built in these counties, especially in the "Inland Empire".
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