Homeland Security's New Immigration Man

N.C. Sheriff To Coordinate Immigration Policy Between Federal, State And Local Agencies

(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.