Federal inaction means more than ever, nation’s law agencies take issue into own hands
Local and state law enforcement agencies throughout the country are taking unprecedented steps to police illegal immigration, a responsibility historically reserved for the federal government.
So far this year, officers from 23 county and state agencies from Virginia to California have been trained under a 1996 federal law that allows them to make immigration arrests and process jailed illegal immigrants for deportation. That’s more than five times the number of training requests made to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in all of 2006.
On the Southwest and Northern borders, local police are using $12 million in federal funding to conduct anti-terrorism patrols under the supervision of the U.S. Border Patrol. The program is called Operation Stonegarden.
Meanwhile, the void of immigration reform in Washington, D.C., has prompted eight states to enact a dozen laws relating to immigration enforcement this year. The laws were among the 182 immigration-related bills passed in 43 states, more than double the number enacted in 2006. This year, Texas enacted legislation requiring immigration authorities to be notified when a noncitizen is convicted of misdemeanor family violence charges.http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5198340.html
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=1891