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WASHINGTON COUNTY -- One Utah sheriff is blasting the federal 287(g) program that gives local deputies immigration enforcement powers.
Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith is frustrated that many arrestees flagged for immigration violations at his jail are refused by Immigration and Customs Enforcement because of a lack of money.
It's a tremendous burden on the taxpayers of our community to expect us to do that federal job.
–Sheriff Kirk Smith
"What a waste of my deputies' time," Smith told KSL Newsradio. "They are not going to take them because they've only got a certain number of dollars to be able to afford to extradite anybody, and that's not a serious enough offense -- that person is going to post bail."
Smith couldn't say what the "cut-off line" is for a serious enough offense. He says sometimes ICE agents have picked up people with immigration holds for particular crimes. Other times, they have declined to extradite people accused of the very same offenses.
Two deputies at the county jail work full-time to screen and interview people that have been booked. Smith says the process alone of flagging one person, filling out the paperwork and getting ICE involved takes about an hour and a half.
"I have to take my deputies off the street or out of different areas of our jail -- to provide safety and security within the jail -- to do these federal functions. It's really frustrating to me, and I know it is to almost all law enforcement that I deal with, that we've gotten to the point where if the job's going to get done, ‘you local law enforcement' are going to have to do it," Smith says. "It's a tremendous burden on the taxpayers of our community to expect us to do that federal job."
Smith says more leadership needs to be shown from the federal government on immigration.
"Nobody wants to do anything about it," Smith says. "They give it lip service, but nobody wants to do anything about it."
Smith also was asked about the impact of Arizona's immigration law on Southern Utah if it holds. He said he hasn't seen any mass migration yet, and it's unclear ultimately what the impact will be.
Smith says recently he has seen an "out-flow" of illegal immigrants because of the poor economy. He says the troubled construction sector has been a significant contributor to the trend.
E-mail: aadams@ksl.com
