Civil immigration violations don’t generally fall under the purview of deputies, however.
“If a foreign national is not violating a state or local law and a computerized records check doesn’t uncover an active warrant for their arrest, deputies don’t typically have the power to enforce civil immigration violations,” said Streck.
But if a person is booked into Montgomery County Jail and admits to being or is suspected of being undocumented, the sheriff’s office contacts the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE will then interview the inmate by phone and review his or her charges. From there, ICE will decide what action comes next, Streck said.
“None of this is new policy or the result of changes in the federal government,” Streck said.
Montgomery County Jail accepts people facing charges and even federal inmates, but it does not have a contract to hold civil immigration violations for ICE.
According to ICE, as of Wednesday, nearly 1,000 arrests have been made nationwide by the agency in a series of “enhanced targeted operations” geared toward the “expedited removal” of certain immigrants.
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