Homeland Security's New Immigration Man

(CBS)  The county jail in Charlotte, N.C., is part front line, part revolving door in America's debate over illegal immigration. It's an issue Sheriff Jim Pendergraph knows well. He'll need every bit of that knowledge when he starts his new job in Washington on Monday, reports CBS News national correspondent Byron Pitts.

"The problem is so big the federal government can't handle this alone," said Pendergraph, who will serve as director of state and local coordination for Homeland Security. "There has to be a partnership with state and locals to attack this problem."

Pendergraph was one of the first sheriff's in the country to participate in a Homeland Security program called "287G." His deputies are now armed with the latest technology to detect illegal immigrants that come through the jail for everything from driving violations to felony assaults.

So far that's more than 3,000 illegal immigrants in two years in Charlotte alone. But only a small percentage will ever actually face deportation because most are released after being given a court date that they never show up for.

Take a man recently arrested for disorderly conduct. The computer shows he has entered the United States illegally six times.

When asked if he was deported, a Charlotte police official said, "In '06, then he came back across the border at some time and then we caught him again. He was a re-entry."

Pensergraph said he sees situations similar to this often.

The illegal immigrant -- he has offenses from serious assaults to aggravated felonies to drunk driving charges -- claims to CBS News that this time he won't be back.

It's a frustrating process, with few allies in local law enforcement, even in Charlotte.

"What we want to do to help the members of our community is to make them safe," said officer Danielle Williams of Charlotte Police. "And we can't do that without victims reporting crime, which they're not going to do if every time we go out to a crime scene, we're asking their immigration status."

Sheriffs across the country don't support the federal program. They say it's not their job to enforce immigration laws.

"There are some that think it puts a chilling effect on their ability to extract information from your immigrant community about criminal activities," said Pendergraph, who estimates there are about 24 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.

"But they (undocumented immigrants) didn't get here overnight, either," added Pendergraph. "They have entered this country over a period of many, many years and it's going to take many years to resolve this issue. And we are not going to solve it overnight."

But as Homeland Security's first ever executive director of state and local coordination, it's now his job to get more police and sheriff departments on board, and he knows he doesn't have much time.

[ncgrl]

Pattypye - I haven''t even been dealt a hand YET........but, I didn''t personally attack you, I stated facts. If you want to name call, you have already insinuated what you believe yourself to be, so........ if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck - even calls itself a duck.......then........

By any means necessary? This isn''t a case of cowboys and Indians - which by the way, if it were, the Indians weren''t illegal, they cowboys were. For you to think that you can round up and deport 30+/- people, plus children and relatives who are legal &/or citizens, they you and ...phobe really are off your meds. Open your eyes and educate yourselves to the issue at hand and do not spew hate and rhetoric. I stated factual information for actual events. you spew nonsensical rhetoric, be a man/woman (whatever) and not a sheep. No, not sheep, maybe lemmings, they follow whatever the guy in front is doing whether they are throwing themselves off a cliff or not. I didn''t personally attack you, I stated facts. If you want to name call, you have already insinuated what you believe yourself to be.

[Pattypye]

"The problem is so big the federal government can''t handle this alone," said Pendergraph,....."

The reason this probem is so big is that our do-nothing government has stood by and let it grow to these proportions so Bush can say the only remedy is amnesty for those here. Never in a million years will the American people accept any kind of amnesty (no matter what they name it) for those who came here illegally.

Isn''t this a little like Nero fiddling while Rome burned?

[levotb]

The good sheriff needs some semantics lessons. There is no such thing as "undocumented immigrants". There are only:

1) U.S. citizens
2) Legal aliens (with current visa, green card, passport, etc.)
3) Illegal aliens

Also, it won''t take years to solve this problem! The mass exodus of illegal aliens out of the U.S. is about to begin. More and more states are cracking down on illegals. Currently, 5 states have cracked down hard--Oklahoma, Georgia, Missouri, Colorado and Arizona.

[levotb]

The good sheriff needs some work on his semantics. There is no such thing as "undocumented immigrants". They are either U.S. citizens, legal aliens or illegal aliens. You can eliminate the first. They need a current visa or green card or both to be legal aliens. Now, illegal aliens with FRAUDULENT OR STOLEN U.S. IDs aren''t "undocumented"--they''re illegal alien felons. Those who are deported and break back into the U.S. are felons.

The good sheriff is wrong about something else...It''s not going to take years to take care of this problem! Pretty soon most of the states in the U.S. will have tough anti-illegal alien laws on the books and 287-g will be the order of the day. Las Vegas'' sheriff just took that road, which will hopefully bring Reno and other Nevada cities into compliance with Federal law.

[austrial-2009]

Wow! One of my friends recently told me he thought the immigration debate was not about patriotism and just an excuse for ignorant people to express racist sentiments openly. I had hoped he was wrong. I guess he was right. What people don%u2019t understand is that the question of immigration isn%u2019t as easy as building a wall on the border and deporting everyone.

There are over a dozen different types of immigration status and even more ways to be here %u201Cillegally%u201D. Some people who are in violation of their visa status are not even committing criminal acts according to immigration law. They are here %u201Cillegally%u201D but the violations are civil, not criminal.

The United States created a complicated immigration policy because the ambiguity suites major lobbying groups such as big business and agricultural interests who need a source of cheap labor. As a result there are thousands of %u201Cillegals%u201D in the United States who have been here for decades.

These %u201Cillegals%u201D have families, including children born in the United States who have completed high school here, businesses and other ties in the United States. By randomly deporting %u201Cillegals%u201D we are creating a social problem of broken families and gang violence.

Do I think it is OK for people to break the law? No. But our government created this problem. It didn%u2019t just appear out of nowhere and we are morally obligated to address it properly.

[hungry1968]

For the life of me - I cannot understand why employers ARE NOT required to verify ITIN or SSN numbers. They should have to call / fax / e-mail the IRS, INS, or some other government agency to verify that the potential employee is a legal, tax paying, American citizen.

WHY CAN''T OUR GOVERNMENT GET THIS STARTED?!?!?!?!

[jncc1701]

Good god, you people need to read up some about immigration laws before posting! the thought process is stupid.
There are several ways to become a legal immigrant, one is having money to invest in the US (you know give more money to Uncle Sam, create jobs etc) it requires a lot of money (not the kind of thing a illegal running the border will have - or anyone else posting for that matter)
I agree illegal immigration is a problem I am strongly suspect Bush is trying to create sympathy so he can get his mass amnesty program into law. But I never anticipated the level of ignorance shown on this blog. If you people vote, God help the Republic.

[lanefiller1]

Anyone interested in a different take on illegal immigration should try:
http://goupstate.us/index.php/lanefiller/2007/11/14/the_illegal_immigrant_next_door

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by tbweb

This is true, but this trick is been used more by Europeans trying to emigrate to the US than by Mexicans. It is easier, because they have larger bank accounts than a migrant farm worker might have.

[tbweb]

Your friend is talking about an ITIN, an individual tax identification number. they are often used for individual tax id of those who do not qualify for a social security number to provide a way for them to pay taxes. It is not in any way a social security number. #1 clue is that they are distributed by the IRS while a SS# is distributed by Social Security.

Posted by wmb57 at 02:50 AM : Dec 03, 2007,,,

Yes but my friend pointed out they are both 9 digits and that they have dashes separating the numbers in different places and that illegals put the dashes in the right places creating a phony Social Security Number.