While browsing the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners’ meeting agenda yesterday, I came across an item that piqued my interest – a request for a report from the County Attorney’s Office on expediting deportation of illegal immigrants in Hillsborough County jails. I procured the report, originally requested by Commissioner Rhonda Storms, and reviewed the five-page document.

In a nutshell, the report states the county’s hands are tied on the immigration issue – federal law governs immigration status and deportation and all the time-consuming procedures regulating deportation must be followed.

It did offer slight hope to those who wish to get those incarcerated aliens out of the state (and country) quickly. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement offers a training course for Program 287g. This six-week course teaches local officers about federal law and how to cooperate with federal officials for an expedited process. Upon completion of the course, officers are granted access to federal information, limited powers to place immigrant holds on inmates and can initiate deportation proceedings. All of this has the effect of lessening the number of days the arrestee is in custody. As a result, the costs of jailing the inmates should also go down.

According to the report, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office already applies for federal grants to offset these costs ($233,499 in 2005), and they intend to take part in the training courses.

But that was not the most interesting nugget in the report.

What intrigued me were the crimes that illegal immigrants can be deported for. Of course, any aggravated felony – like violent crime — can send those undocumented back to their homelands. So can any controlled substance violation … except cannabis. That’s right, federal law states immigrants cannot be deported for a “single offense involving possession for one’s own use of 30 grams or less of marijuana.” For those not brushed up on their measurements, that’s an ounce or less. As if people needed another reason to cross the border! Low unemployment, good hospitals, decent schools and relaxed drug laws – it’s no wonder people want to come here. God Bless America!

This article appears in Nov 1-7, 2006.