Rockingham County Turns Over ‘Criminal Aliens’
March 5, 2008 | Virginia News
72 Designated For Deportation In Seven-Month Span
HARRISONBURG - In the last seven months, county officials say, 72 "criminal aliens" in the Rockingham County Jail have been turned over to federal immigration authorities for deportation.
Federal officials use the term "criminal alien" to refer to noncitizens - illegal immigrants or aliens authorized to be in the U.S. through a green card or other documentation - who have been detained on a criminal matter.
Some, but not all, of those six dozen immigrants have been deported, and 22 others remain in the county jail for further criminal proceedings.
Once those proceedings are over and any sentences served, the remaining 22 will be turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation. The deportations are the result of county deputies scrutinizing the citizenship status of 191 defendants.
The intense scrutiny is part of a recent partnership with immigration officials known as the 287G program, which confers federal immigration powers on local agencies, said Cpl. D.E. Lester, one of the deputies. In the past, ICE had one person representing 52 counties, including Rockingham.
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