Immigration Law

Dallas County Jail Will Now Check Prisoners' Immigration Status

By Robert Kraft

The Dallas Morning News reports that the Dallas County jail has become one of the first in the nation to use a new federal database to identify illegal immigrants during the book-in process. Here are excerpts from the article:

Normally, when prisoners are booked into jails, their fingerprints are run through a national database to check their criminal history. Under the new initiative, fingerprints also will be automatically run through a similar database to check the person's immigration status.

If the computer shows a prisoner is in the country illegally, he or she will be referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which will determine whether to place an immigration hold on the person. The same applies to non-U.S. citizens who have been convicted of certain crimes while in the country legally.

After the person's criminal charges are resolved through probation or prison time, they will be referred to ICE for deportation.

Full post as published by Immigration Law Answers Blog on November 13, 2008 (boomark / email).