Oregon Prisoner Deportation Process Makes Sense and Saves Money

Most Americans know our current Immigration Policies are broken. We are in need of Immigration Reform. We know our Immigration Courts are severely backlogged. We know we have numerous illegal immigrants in prisons.

Part of the court backlog problem is due to NOT separating the visa overstays and workers from those who commit crimes and are in prison.

Oregon has put in place a plan to immediately deport those in prison who agree to an expedited deportation. This type of program make sense and can be implemented right away, without the passage of a national Immigration bill.

I recommend more states adopt Oregon's program. This goes hand in hand with other solutions including:
1. Focus on Felonious Criminals/Drug Dealers vs Workers
2. Stop Racial Profiling and Latino neighborhood sweeps (ala Arpaio)
3. Offer Volunteer Deportation for those interested

ICE has implemented some of these recommendations in the past with positive results.
Oregon starts moving illegal immigrants out of its prisons
After several months of delay, state and federal officials have reached an agreement to deport illegal immigrants with less than six months left on their sentences out of the state's prisons and into an expedited deportation process. The memorandum of understanding between Oregon and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Immigration & Customs Enforcement means that inmates who waive all rights to contest a deportation will have their sentences commuted and be quickly deported. Six sentences were commuted yesterday after the agreement was signed on Monday, officials from Gov. Ted Kulongoski's office said. The vast majority of the 206 inmates eligible for the early release are from Mexico, state records show. To be eligible for the early release, inmates must be offenders who've not been convicted of any violent, sexual or Measure 11 crimes.

The early deportation program was signed into law last summer in Salem as part of a broad cost-saving corrections package. Lawmakers planned to save $2.1 million by transferring 175 prisoners to federal immigration authorities over the biennium.The state had expected to save $700,000 by Dec. 1 through the early deportation program but a legal glitch in reaching the agreement with the feds held it up. With states across the country strapped by the recession and looking to trim prison costs, the immigration service agreed to work with states across the country to deport criminal offenders before their sentences expire. Several states have deported prisons under the program. Inmates who participate in the program not only waive their rights to challenge a deportation, they face significant federal prison time if they are caught in the United States again illegally.