Burning Atlanta

EVERY jail in this country should be required to screen EVERY person arrested as to their immigration status. There is NO excuse for letting illegal alien criminals back on the streets. Their cases should be adjudicated then they should be turned over to ICE.

In this instance the local Sheriff claims they report all suspected illegasl to ICE. Ehhh, not good enough. Either ICE or trained deputies should be doing the screening.

CAN THEM AND BOOT THEM.

An assemblyman from Putnam County is trying to build support for a bill that would allow local police to get more involved in deporting illegal aliens, but some state officials and groups said the legislation is not needed.

Assemblyman Greg Ball, R-Patterson, said illegal immigrants who run afoul of the law might slip through the cracks in the correctional system. Their immigration status is not always verified, and they could be released back into the community rather than sent home after serving prison time, he said. Meanwhile, they cost New York taxpayers millions of dollars.

Ball's bill would provide training to State Police, county sheriffs' deputies and state correction officers that essentially would provide them with more authority to identify and deport illegal immigrants. Ball said a few senators have expressed an interest in the bill, and he is working on a more specific version that would focus on sex offenders and violent criminal illegal aliens.

Putnam County Sheriff Donald Smith, who helped organize a forum in Albany Thursday on policing undocumented immigrants, said his department notifies federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement when anyone with questionable immigration status enters the county jail.