287(G) ARRIVAL EXPECTED TO PUT CRIMINALS ON ICE

On Friday, Gwinnett County received news that gives a super,
turbo-charged boost to the race against gangs, drugs and the criminal
element.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency announced it had entered into a
287(g) agreement with the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department.

Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act trains and
authorizes local officers to investigate, detain and arrest illegal
immigrants on civil and criminal grounds. Gwinnett Sheriff Butch
Conway has been diligent in his efforts to bring the program to his
department. He enlisted the aid of Georgia senators Saxby Chambliss
and Johnny Isakson. Their efforts have finally paid off.

287(g) gives local officers the power and the tools to move illegal
aliens toward deportation. It also grants access to the ICE database -
an essential tool in identifying illegal aliens.

An ICE census of our county jail conducted in January showed 914
illegal immigrants were housed there. Perhaps more startling is that
of every 10 foreign-born inmates at the county jail, seven had entered
this country illegally.

For Gwinnett County, acceptance into the program means that anyone
brought into custody by the Sheriff's Department or brought to the
jail is subject to an immigration check. If the person in custody is
here illegally, officers have the right to detain that person and turn
them over to ICE officials for possible deportation.

Foreign drug cartels have quietly invaded this area. Our interstate
highways and suburban setting are a perfect combination for
clandestine activities that need easy access to efficient supply
lines. Gwinnett County fits the description.

Consider:

Last July, an alleged drug dealer was found severely dehydrated and
badly beaten after being chained and gagged for six days in the
basement of a Lilburn home.

Four days earlier, Gwinnett police SWAT officers shot and killed a
suspect in the parking lot of a Waffle House in another drug-related
kidnapping.

In September, police raided a Lawrenceville home belonging to an
alleged leader of the brutal Gulf cartel - a group known for torture,
murder and beheadings in Mexico.

A recent police campaign unearthed 17 "grow houses" where drugs are
grown or manufactured in the basements of homes nestled quietly amid
Gwinnett subdivisions.

Sheriff Conway welcomes the opportunity to add 287(g) to his
department's arsenal against crime. "There's a tremendous problem with
illegal aliens being arrested in Gwinnett. And then when they're
arrested, they don't show up for court ... They take up a tremendous
amount of our resources and it hurts the county's quality of life
tremendously."

The community owes its thanks to those who worked to bring us 287(g).
Ours is one of only 77 national 287(g) agreements signed with ICE.

The program isn't a magic wand that will make the criminal element
disappear. But it gives the sheriff and his deputies and staff at the
county jail a much-needed weapon in their fight against crime.