By Bill Zeeble, KERA reporter
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-651646.mp3
Dallas, TX – Bill Zeeble KERA reporter: For months, Irving Mayor Herbert Gears had proudly declared his town likely led the nation in deportations through its criminal alien program. Its inmates were screened by federal ICE officials. And In the past year, they found some 17 hundred were illegal immigrants, & deported them. ICE now says it'll no longer detain those arrested for class C misdemeanors. Mayor Gears says that represents 60 percent of those deported from his jails, & he's surprised by the policy change.
Irving Mayor Herbert Gears: We'll have fewer results. But it's the federal government's program we're participating in. If they've chosen to modify it, that's their call. It's confusing to us that the federal government would implement a policy that pretty much says, in some cases, the law won't be followed.
Zeeble: Activist Carlos Quintanilla, arrested in Irving recently for some minor crimes of his own, has fought Irving's program. He says deportations should apply to more hardened criminals, and this policy change vindicates him.
Quintanilla: Individuals that are criminals, for drug dealing, felonies, that's the right thing to do. But to deport individuals for traffic related offenses we find unacceptable.
Zeeble: Irving's mayor says federal immigration officials were likely just overwhelmed by the number of deportations through local criminal alien programs, and had to cut back. ICE confirmed that, saying it must prioritize personnel and resources based on those aliens who represent the greatest threat to national security or public safety. Bill Zeeble KERA news. Bzeeble@Kera.Org