By Tim McGlone
The Virginian-Pilot
RICHMOND, Va. — Roughly 10 percent of inmates in Virginia’s jails over the past year were suspected illegal immigrants, with the majority being held on alcohol-related offenses, according to a Virginia State Crime Commission report released Tuesday.
More than 21,000 of the 215,769 individuals housed in local jails could not prove U.S. citizenship, according to the study. Another 368 were in the state prison system. The study counted inmates who entered correctional facilities for the fiscal year that ended June 30.
The Hampton Roads Regional Jail in Portsmouth housed the fourth-highest number of illegal immigrants of all Virginia jails. Most were found in jails in Northern Virginia, where the highest concentration of undocumented immigrants live.
Officials estimate 250,000 to 300,000 illegal immigrants live in the state.
The report was the first time Virginia has counted undocumented immigrants in its correctional facilities.
Further study is being conducted to compare the numbers to previous years, according to commission staff member Christina Barnes, who presented the report to the commission’s Illegal Immigration Task Force on Tuesday.
The task force asked for the report in its effort to fashion legislation tightening immigration controls, including a requirement that Virginia sheriffs and jail administrators initiate deportation proceedings. The task force received the report at its meeting Tuesday but did not comment on it.
Barnes told the task force that she had no data on the number of inmates turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation. Typically, when a jail suspects an incoming inmate is not a citizen, deputies contact ICE to begin the deportation process.
State Sen. Kenneth Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, task force co-chairman, said ICE has received about 9,000 jail inquiries so far this year.
Most of the inmates in Virginia’s jails were in for alcohol- related offenses, including driving under the influence and being drunk in public. Other driving offenses, such as driving without a license and reckless driving, were the second most-common cause for incarceration.
The task force was formed earlier this year after a double-fatal crash in Virginia Beach that authorities say was caused by an illegal immigrant with a criminal record. The driver, Alfredo Ramos, had prior convictions for drunken driving and being drunk in public, but his name was never forwarded to immigration officials.
Ramos pleaded guilty Aug. 13 to two counts of aggravated involuntary manslaughter and is to be sentenced Nov. 5. He is facing up to 40 years in prison, then deportation.
The task force also heard a report on gang activity involving illegal immigrants. The Center for Immigration Studies found that gangs appear to be fanning out across Virginia.
Northern Virginia cities and counties accounted for the bulk of gang arrests in recent years, particularly among members of MS-13, a violent gang that originated in El Salvador. But the statistics show a migration to the Hampton Roads and Richmond areas.
The center’s Jessica Vaughan, who presented the gang report, said the migration south can be traced to the ongoing law enforcement gang crackdown in Northern Virginia.
“The gangs had to move out of a particular location to continue its practices,” she said. “It is clear that the effort that has been directed at the gang problem has been working.”
But, she noted, cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE has been “spotty.”
“I don’t like the spotty approach,” Stolle said.
“Until we get control of immigration, illegal immigration in particular, these people will continue to come back to terrorize these communities,” said Vaughan, whose group favors a more limited immigration approach.
The task force is expected to propose immigration- related legislation this fall, said Rep. Dave Albo, R-Fairfax.
Senior Republican legislators are expected to present proposals for law changes at a news conference today .
However, Albo, who also is participating in today’s announcement, said the plans being presented by House Speaker William Howell, R-Stafford, and Senate Majority Leader Walter Stosch, R-Henrico, are separate from the immigration task force’s proposal.
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