Deportation program a step forward

Immigration officials deported 28 foreign-born Clark County jail inmates during the first month of a new partnership with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

The partnership, officially launched Nov. 15, allows specially trained corrections officers at the Clark County Detention Center to identify immigration violators and start deportation proceedings against them.

Through mid-December, 882 people booked into the jail were identified as foreign-born and screened for their immigration status. Of those, 114 were identified as being in the United States illegally. Their names were forwarded to the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Twenty-eight either have been removed from the United States or are in holding stations awaiting removal, police said.

Believe it or not, some are objecting to even this minimal effort to transfer criminals -- after their local cases have been resolved -- back to their appropriate, foreign jurisdictions.

"They've created a deportation machine," says Judy Cox, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada. "It's going to create a huge rift in the community."

A rift between legal residents of foreign extraction -- who are to be congratulated for seeking a freer life in America and doing it "by the book" -- versus illegals who commit new and additional crimes?

"This isn't just about getting violent criminals off the street," Ms. Cox complains. "Anybody who comes in contact with the police, and is unfortunate enough to be arrested and charged with anything from a DUI to a felony, can be deported."

Well ... yes. And this is somehow bad? Someone who enters this country illegally is a criminal. By and large, such people have little fear of being apprehended or deported, unless they have what Ms. Cox calls "the misfortune" to be arrested and charged with another, entirely separate crime.

Slipping on a patch of ice and twisting one's ankle is a "misfortune." Is it merely "bad luck" to commit so many crimes that one eventually gets arrested for one of them?

Police spokesman Jacinto Rivera says 75 of the 114 jail inmates identified as being in the country illegally had been charged with felonies from murder to drug trafficking.

If there's a cause for worry here, we hope some follow-ups will be conducted to make sure convicts shipped south of the border aren't promptly released to head north and "try again." Other than that, the more appropriate question is why we haven't seen deportation proceedings opened for at least those 75 -- if not the entire 114.

News of the 287(g) agreement, named for the corresponding section of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, has inspired fear in immigrant communities, says Xavier Rivas, host of a Spanish-language call-in radio talk show on KRLV-AM, 1340. "Callers are really worried," Mr. Rivas said. "They're afraid Metro is going to act as immigration officers. They are scared."

But why would legal immigrants have any reason to fear? One suspects Mr. Rivas may mean fear has been inspired not among immigrants at large, but rather in the "illegal alien" community.

Frankly, the notion that this quite limited program means Las Vegas police will be conducting dragnets for illegal aliens seems a bit far-fetched. As a matter of fact, when last we checked, it was the stated policy of Metro not to investigate the legal residency status of crime victims and cooperating witnesses.

America has a proud tradition of opening her arms to more law-abiding immigrants than any other nation in the world. But here's hoping those who have snuck in illegally are now "afraid" enough to quietly turn around and go home.

If more legal "guest workers" are needed, Congress can reinstate the "bracero" program, or simply expand its existing national quotas.