Panel OKs INS Jail Screening
Legislation that would station Immigration and Naturalization Service agents permanently at Anaheim City Jail and expand the program nationwide won approval from a congressional subcommittee Thursday, officials said.
The legislation, introduced by Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), would make pilot programs permanent at Ventura County and Anaheim jails and would expand them to include every prison in 100 counties with high concentrations of illegal immigrants.
Like the pilot programs, the bill would require INS agents to screen people before arraignment so that illegal immigrants suspected of other crimes would not be released into communities.
Nora Bomar, spokeswoman for Gallegly, said the passage of the bill by the Immigration and Claims Subcommittee of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee is a good sign.
“It’s significant in that it’s moving right along,” Bomar said. The next step is for the bill to go before the Judiciary Committee, likely in September.
Kristine Thalman, Anaheim’s intergovernmental and community relations manager, said that the subcommittee’s approval “sets the tone for the bill.”
“Without opposition [in the subcommittee], it has a good chance of passing,” Thalman said.
Anaheim has been a model for the program, in which INS agents are stationed at the jail to screen prisoners.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
