On June 22nd, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) began a partnership known as the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP).
The program allows two ICE agents to be stationed inside the Fresno County Jail. This progressive approach is one of the only programs of its kind in the nation. The goal is to strengthen communication between the two agencies, which in turn will improve the safety of the citizens in Fresno County.
This partnership better equips ICE to monitor and manage the population of foreign born arrestees entering and leaving the jail. Agents now have access to inmate records and interview rooms in the jail. ICE agents are able to perform background checks and determine if an inmate is eligible for deportation by looking at their current charges and past convictions.
Prior to this program, ICE would file a detainer request for FSO jail staff to notify the federal agency whenever a person of interest was scheduled to be released. Agents could then decide whether or not to pick up that person. Now that agents are stationed in the jail, they have the opportunity to be in a better position in terms of the detainer process. It’s important to note, the Sheriff’s Office does not make any recommendations to ICE. The Sheriff’s Office simply provides agents access to tools so they can do their jobs better.
Since the inception of the partnership, a total of 66 undocumented criminals were determined to be eligible for deportation. 39 have since been removed from the U.S. and 16 of those had previously been removed after an order was issued by an immigration judge. The remaining 27 people have been entered into removal proceedings.
Of the 66 people, six of them fit the criteria of Level 1 crimes and 60 fell into the category of Level 2 crimes. Some of the their charges included: Participating in a Criminal Street Gang, burglary, being a felon in possession of a firearm, corporal injury to a spouse (domestic violence), battery and driving under the influence.
To watch Sheriff Mims explain how the program works, click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ7jJ1xLh6g
For more information on PEP and a definition of Level 1 and Level 2 crimes, please visit https://www.ice.gov/pep and http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/14_1120_memo_prosecutorial_discretion.pdf
