“The point is to make the process more streamlined.”
By Casey Ross
Boston Herald Reporter
Gov. Deval Patrick is moving to expedite the deportation of hundreds of criminal aliens in state custody under a freshly inked deal that empowers correction officers to enforce federal immigration laws.
The terms of the new deal took effect yesterday as 10 state correction officers began training that will allow them to initiate deportation proceedings against illegal immigrants who currently can only be removed by federal officers.
“This helps the Department of Correction identify criminal aliens so that they won’t slip through the cracks and get back out on the street,” said Mary Beth Heffernan, an undersecretary of public safety in the Patrick administration. “The point is to make the process more streamlined.”The pact, which was signed with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency that enforces immigration laws, was conceived by Patrick as a substitute for a more aggressive policy initiated by former Gov. Mitt Romney.
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