Speech #1100061711

Speaker. I rise today to highlight the exemplary important work of the Cobb County Sheriffs Office. This Georgia agency has been screening County Jail inmates to identify and deport illegal immigrants. This is a hugely important effort. After these criminals serve their time. we need to deport them. Many jailed illegal immigrants are incarcerated for crimes like rape. armed robbery and drug trafficking. We want to do more than simply get these criminals off our streets. We want. Mr. Speaker. to get them out of our country. Six deputies with the Cobb County Sheriffs Office recently underwent specialized training with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to identify illegal immigrants in our jails. Cobb County is the first department in Georgia and indeed one of the first in the Nation to work with ICE on this initiative. They are setting a fine example for communities across America. and our cities will undoubtedly benefit from the widespread adoption of this program. After all. our State and local law enforcement officials are our first responders in the fight against illegal immigration. They play a critical role in stopping criminal aliens from harming our citizens. Heres how this new program works. Local law enforcement officials travel to Herndon. Virginia. to train with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They get experience in immigration law. criminal law. document examination. alien processing. and crosscultural communication. These trained deputies then return home to their communities where they work with ICE agents to identify illegal immigrants in local jails by comparing fingerprints with ICE and FBI databases and interviewing prisoners. The program may be new but it is already working. In the Cobb County jail alone. which holds nearly 2.200 inmates. law enforcement officials have identified 63 people of interest to Federal immigration authorities. That is 63 rapists. robbers. and drug lords that we can get off of our streets and out of our country. Mr. Speaker. we know local law enforcement officials are often our front line of defense when it comes to identifying and removing illegal immigrants from our communities. As we look for solutions to the current illegal immigration crisis. we must empower our State and local officials and help them coordinate with Federal agents. And that is why I proudly supported an amendment last week to the Homeland Security appropriations bill. We passed that on the floor to support this new and promising ICE program so that we dont just provide funding to communities located within 100 miles of the southern border. otherwise Cobb County. Georgia wont have qualified. Last summer I examined border security efforts along the United StatesMexican border. and during that trip I observed our Border Patrol agents loading up buses and planes with criminal illegal immigrants being deported back to their home countries. Now Cobb County is playing a vital role in this process. and I am incredibly proud of their efforts. The sheriffs office is helping rid our society of dangerous criminals who have no business being here in the United States.