News

Federal, local partnership apprehends 83 illegals

MICHAEL JUSTUS/TIMES-NEWS
Henderson County Sheriff Rick Davis talks about the 287(g) program on Friday at his office.
Published: Saturday, September 6, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, September 5, 2008 at 11:30 p.m.

Eighty-three illegal immigrants have been identified and charged through a joint federal and local program aimed at deporting illegals who commit crimes, Henderson County Sheriff Rick Davis said this week, as the program marked its two-month anniversary.

The program, known as 287(g), enables officers to determine the immigration status of defendants processed through county jails using federal databases. It also enables them to initiate removal proceedings for people found to be in the country illegally.

Nine Henderson County sheriff’s deputies have completed training in immigration enforcement.

Davis said the community feedback he has received has been overwhelmingly positive.

“The one thing I hear over and over is that residents want us to go further with the program,” he said.

Taking the program further is up to the federal government, Davis added, not his department.

“With the program, we are limited to what we are doing now,” he said. “When illegal aliens are under arrest, we process them. There are many federal hurdles we have to go through, but it is having a major impact.”

Davis said that over the two months the program has been active, it has had a broader impact than he first imagined.

“For example, we had an active warrant list two weeks ago with 507 warrants,” he said. “Thirty-six percent of all those warrants were Latinos. Before we were able to identify fictitious names and addresses (through the program), that number was 50 percent.”

Davis said as the program continues there will be a visible drop in the number of cases on the court docket, due to the fictitious names being removed.

He added that the program is not profiling Latinos.

“We have also identified illegal aliens from China, Malaysia and Nigeria,” he said.

He did say the Latino population is the largest minority here in Henderson County.

Davis also said the program could start generating some money for the upkeep of the jail.

“We have a tentative agreement with the federal government to receive a daily rate of $71.96 per inmate held in our detention center,” he said. “This is compared to the $18 a day the state pays us now.”

The sheriff also said there is plenty of room in the county jail to hold these additional inmates.

Currently the jail has a capacity of 254, with an average daily population of 148.

“The object of the 287(g) program is to reduce crime and for it to pay for itself,” he said.


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  1. Vrede says...
    September 6, 2008 1:54:07 am

    RE: Link

    T-N: "(Henderson County Sheriff Rick) Davis said the community feedback he has received has been overwhelmingly positive. "The one thing I hear over and over is that residents want us to go further with the program," he said."

    Of course he has. Any fool knows that it never pays to publicly criticize a local Sheriff.

    Now, anyone with a private beef against an otherwise upstanding undocumented immigrant can get him deported merely by getting him falsely arrested for some invented crime. With Henderson County acting as an agent of federal immigration authorities, it is now open season for criminals to prey on our least powerful residents since these victims will fear having any contact with local law enforcement.

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  2. kellycw2619 says...
    September 6, 2008 3:09:42 am

    Vredy, I certainly agree with this program. what i am not willing to do is pay for illegals who come here to live, and live off the american wurkers. are you. i am uninsured. But never Mind. the illegsld can walk into any health care ctr here in Hendersonville and receive Free Medical Help. They are bleeding Henderson county dry. Also they Take Jobs That others would do if given the chance. They also are some Criminals, otherwise they would not have been arrested. i agree with Sheriff Davis and this Program .We have needed it for years. i think we need to take it to a higher level. please letme give you a web sight that may enlighten you go to, Link district court.org. click on criminal calendar. then on criminal calander again. select henderson cty. then read the names of the list of crimes committed here in hend cty by ailens. it ranges from drugs,dui. etc. i hope this might shade a little light on what is happening here. I know there is others there too, but a lot are hispanic.p.s on that web address you also have to click on district court.

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  3. danogone says...
    September 6, 2008 3:39:14 am

    No inventions needed- if they are undocumented/illegal then they are already commiting a crime being here.

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  4. doozie says...
    September 6, 2008 5:19:56 am

    If they are illegal - get them out of here - especially if they have committed crimes. We do noy need millions of uneducated, uninsured illegals.

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  5. Bowhntr says...
    September 6, 2008 5:22:47 am

    Well said. I was thinking the same thing.

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  6. tool_seller_22 says...
    September 6, 2008 5:39:46 am

    danagone is 100% correct. What part of ILLEGAL do some people not understand? Even if a charge was bogus, they still have broken a law and are ILLEGAL!

    FANTASTIC! KEEP IT UP SHERIFF!

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  7. Vrede says...
    September 6, 2008 5:39:57 am

    Perhaps we should require that Americans learn English first.

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  8. Vrede says...
    September 6, 2008 5:44:13 am

    It is my understanding that the Sheriff is not arresting immigrants merely for being undocumented so, yes, inventions are needed.

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  9. tool_seller_22 says...
    September 6, 2008 5:56:35 am

    So crimes like dwi are invented? Being in the country illegally is invented? The law seems clear, unlike your inventing cases to justify breaking laws.

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  10. betweenus says...
    September 6, 2008 6:03:23 am

    And you, Verede, should learn to be AMERICAN FIRST.

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