INS Boosts Illegal-Immigrant Screening at Jail

In a move that could double the number of prisoners screened for citizenship, the Immigration and Naturalization Service has expanded its hours of operation at Anaheim City Jail.

Over the past year, INS agents have screened about 40% of arrestees to determine if they are in the country legally, Anaheim police Capt. Marc Hedgpeth said. He added that about 16% of those screened turn out to be illegal immigrants.

For the past year, agents have staffed the jail several hours each morning during weekdays. As of this week, the INS added an agent Sundays through Thursdays from 2 to 10 p.m.

“We’re hopeful that the staffing of a second shift of an INS agent will substantially increase the total number of interviews for our arrestees,” Hedgpeth said.

Before the staffing increase, the INS was identifying only about 100 illegal immigrants in the jail a month.

Now, about 80% of those arrested are expected to be screened.

Under the program, prisoners are screened by agents before their arraignment and illegal immigrants are identified for deportation once they serve their sentences, if convicted. Officials started a pilot program in Anaheim in 1995 and extended it several times. But at the same time, the INS increasingly reduced its presence at the jail, citing funding problems.

In December, President Clinton signed legislation that made the program permanent and provided for the staffing of INS agents on a full-time basis at the jail. The legislation also provided funding.

Since then, city officials have said the INS has not fulfilled the terms of the law, and pushed for more presence at the jail. Officials said the expanded presence is a step in the right direction.