5 North Carolina counties push jail deportations

Now, Orange, Harnett, Duplin, New Hanover and Buncombe counties are jumping in, testing a new program that will eventually be nationwide. The program, called Secure Communities, provides jails with equipment that uses inmates’ fingerprints to check immigration status and criminal records, then automatically alerts immigration officials to inmates who are in the country illegally.

Secure Communities is similar to a better-known program called 287(g) that is already operating in eight North Carolina jails, including those in Wake and Alamance counties. However, the 287(g) program, named for the section of federal law that created it, trains local officers to interview immigrants and begin deportation proceedings. The five newly added counties will not have trained staff and must rely on federal immigration agents to pick up illegal immigrants.http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1394390.htmlBy Kristin Collins — Raleigh-Durham News and Observer