Deane presents statistics on illegal immigration enforcement

By Elisa Glushefski

Published: April 2, 2008

In the first month of the Prince William County Police Department’s illegal immigration enforcement initiative, officers arrested 39 illegal immigrants on criminal charges and identified an additional 50.

The numbers came from police Chief Charlie T. Deane’s report on the program’s results that took effect a month ago today, requiring police officers to check the immigration status of individuals when there’s reason to believe that person is in the country illegally.

Deane presented the findings to the Prince William Board of County Supervisors at Tuesday’s public hearing, and again Wednesday at a news conference held to “clarify” the data police provided.

Although the statistics largely leave out the contacts and arrests made by the six-member criminal alien unit, Deane said the unit was called in for two arrests, one in which the person had an outstanding warrant of removal issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The other, Deane said, was taken into custody as an “illegal alien who had entered the country without inspection.”
In all, he said, police made contact with 89 illegal immigrants.

Of those, local charges were placed against 39, 25 were released on traffic or criminal summons and two were taken into custody for federal immigration violations, police said.

Additionally, 21 individuals identified as illegal were released and no charges were placed, Deane said, and two were later determined to be in the country legally.

The felony and misdemeanor charges placed against illegal immigrants since March 3 represent a fraction of arrests typically made in a single month, with the average standing at around 1,100, Deane said.

According to police, the following felony charges were placed: one for attempted murder stemming from a Montgomery County, Md., case; one for cocaine possession; two for grand larceny; one for felony hit and run; and two for shoplifting.

Of the misdemeanor charges placed against illegal immigrants since the start of the program, nine were for drunk in public; three were for domestic assault; eight were for driving under the influence; two were for providing a false ID; five were for no operators license; one for petit larceny; one for possession of marijuana; one for resisting arrest; one for sexual assault; and one for shoplifting.

In the majority of cases, contact was made during a call for service, second to that was traffic for stops.

Stops were also made while police were investigating suspicious persons and vehicles, according to police.

In each of the 89 contacts police had with illegal immigrants, Deane said officers had probable cause to check the person’s status.

Deane did not know how probable cause was developed in those cases, but said that someone providing multiple addresses or driving without a license are examples of indicators that could be used.

“Probable cause is seldom a single factor … and it’s a flexible term,” Deane said Wednesday.

He also defended the two instances where the person was found to be in the country, saying in one of the cases the man thought he was here illegally.

“The circumstances of those cases justified the questioning,” Deane said.