Thirty-four members of Congress, including at least three Representatives from Orange County, have signed a letter to leaders of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science Committee on Appropriations.  The letter asks that funding for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAPP) be restored to the federal budget for Fiscal Year 2010.

President Barack Obama cut the funding, which last year provided about $6.3 million to the Orange County Sheriff's Department and $400 million to law enforcement nationwide, to reimburse local agencies for incarcerating criminals who are in the country illegally.

The federal reimbursement in 2009 amounted to only about 20 percent of what law enforcement agencies actually spent to incarcerate illegal immigrants convicted of qualifying crimes. 

"We cannot afford to eliminate vital funding that already falls far short of what states and local governments spend to incarcerate undocumented criminal aliens," said the letter to U.S. Representative Alan Mollohan, Chairman of the subcommittee and U.S. Representative Frank Wolf, the subcommittee's ranking member.  

Notable signatures on the letter were Orange County Representatives Loretta Sanchez, Dana Rohrbacher and Ed Royce.

To view the entire letter with signatures click: SCAAP Letter to CJS 5.15.09.pdf (1.00 mb)

Sheriff Sandra Hutchens and Assistant Sheriff Mike James briefed the Board of Supervisors on April 7 about the state of the Department Jails.

To view the video see below:

The study by the Pew Hispanic Center was reported on the Orange County Register's Website.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Top law enforcement officers react to Latinos' mistrust in system
O.C. officials say they're concerned with study finding, but some say they're not surprised.
BY CINDY CARCAMO
The Orange County Register

Latinos' interaction with the criminal justice system has increased, yet they don't have as much trust in law enforcement as whites, according to a study released today by the Pew Hispanic Center.

Hispanics' confidence in law enforcement is closer to the low levels expressed by blacks than to the high levels expressed by whites, according to the "Hispanics and the Criminal Justice System: Low Confidence and Growing Exposure" study. The Pew Hispanic Center is a nonpartisan research organization based in Washington, D.C.

A little more than 60 percent of Hispanics say they have a great deal or a fair amount of confidence that police in their local communities will do a good job enforcing the law, compared to 79 percent of whites and 55 percent of blacks, according to the Pew study.

Statistics are even grimmer when researchers asked Hispanics whether they were confident that they would be treated fairly.

To read the full story click here.

To read the full report click: hispanics and criminal justice system_final_EMBARGOED.pdf (533.06 kb)

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has introduced a new newsletter and it shows they have some of the same concerns that we in the Department have, like deported criminals returning to the country illegally and budget constraints in an uncertain economic time.

CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate had this to say about deported criminals returning:

For many years the federal government has struggled to enforce our borders and has failed to provide state and local law enforcement with adequate compensation for the costs of housing criminal aliens who enter our country illegally and commit crimes.  Consequently, our state prisons and local jails have become revolving doors for thousands of undocumented criminals who have violated federal immigration laws.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has reviewed the fiscal and public safety implications of our previous policy of shouldering the burden and decided it is necessary to make a change. 

For the rest of his article and to view the new newsletter click here.

This story out today from Associated Press comes just as the Department's issued its latest figures on the program of cross-designating a team of specially trained Deputies as Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents. The Department's ICE program is one of the most highly praised in the country and is used as a model by ICE when enlisting cooperation from other local agencies.

The Department is going into it's third year of the program, which screens those booked into the jail to determine if they are in the country legally. Those found to be here illegally are turned over to ICE for processing.

Here is the Associated Press story:

Homeland secretary wants criminal aliens out of US

By EILEEN SULLIVAN
Associated Press Writer 
 
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says if you're a criminal and you're not entitled to be in the United States, she wants you out of the country.

Napolitano wants what she calls "criminal aliens" off American streets. She is looking at existing immigration enforcement programs to see if taxpayers are getting the most bang for their buck.

To see the full story click here.

In 2008, the Department screened 63,146 inmates, interviewed 4,479, detained 3,839, including 2,315 held for felonies, 1,517 for misdemeanors, 4,262 males and 217 females.  

There is alot of bad news out there: from war in the Middle East to financial carnage on Wall Street stretching to Main Street and lots of other awful things we'd rather forget.

Here is our list of stories from 2008 that will make you glad you're with the Orange County Sheriff's Department.  

10. Women’s Running Team Places First in Baker 2 Vegas Run, inspired by the untimely death of their coach, Retired Sheriff's Lieutenant Darrell “Guy” Poncy.

Click: Sheriffs-Womens-Team-is-Tops-at-Baker-2-Vegas-Run

Click: County-Supervisors-Honor-Departments-Womens-Running-Team

9.   The Department Crime Lab Won Prestigious Accreditation and a special acclaim from the Department of Justice.

Click: Coveted Accreditation

Click: Justice Department Kudo

8.  A search team made up of Deputies, Reserve Deputies and Professional Services Responders found a woman who had been missing for three days in Tijeras Creek. 

Click: Searchers Find Woman in Tijeras Creek.

7.  TAGRS Program developed by Department personnel helps nab Taggers across jurisidictions.

Click: TAGRS

6.   Deputies Rescue Woman from Overpass

Click: Rescue 

Click: Heroism Cited

5.  Immigration and Customs Enforcement applauded Department for the Cross-Designation Program that helped prevent illegal immigrants jailed for crimes from returning to further victimize our community.

Click: ICE Credits OCSD Cross Designation Program 

Click: ICE Cross Designation Program Thrives

Click: Five Deputies Join ICE Program

4.  The Saddleback Presidential Forum was the first joint public appearance by Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. It drew hundreds of protestors from both sides but the OCSD kept all peaceful and safe.

Click: Demonstration

3.    Crime rates are lowest in cities policed by Sheriff’s Department.

Click: Sheriff's Jurisdiction Safer

2.  Kidnap victim Ryan Ramos found safe In Juarez, Mexico after all-out effort by OCSD.

Click: Amber Alert for Kidnapped Boy

Click: Aero Squadron Pilot, OCSD investigators retrieve Kidnapped Boy

1. Sandra Hutchens sworn in as Orange County Sheriff

Click: Swearing in Video

Click: Hundreds Witness Swearing In

Click: OCSD Welcomes Sheriff Hutchens

Sheriff Sandra Hutchens is quoted in the Press Release Issued today by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  

News Release

Record number of criminal aliens targeted for enforcement in Southland jails
ICE teams with local law enforcement to process more than 35,000 criminal aliens in 2008

LOS ANGELES – The number of criminal aliens identified and processed by federal and local officers in Los Angeles-area jails and prisons reached record levels this year, up more than 10 percent compared to the year before, according to statistics released today by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

ICE officials attribute the gain to expansion of the agency’s Criminal Alien Program (CAP) and the continued success of ICE’s 287(g) partnerships with the sheriffs’ departments in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.  Under those partnerships, specially-trained sheriffs’ personnel interview criminal aliens in the county jails, lodging immigration detainers against those who are potentially deportable to ensure they are turned over to ICE upon release from local custody. 

“We made a commitment to the American people to embark on an ambitious enforcement strategy aimed at securing our borders and strengthening our nation’s immigration system,” said Julie L. Myers, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for ICE. “The record results seen across the country reflect significant, steady progress toward this goal. The men and women at ICE, along with our law enforcement partners, deserve our thanks for their hard work and dedication.”

In fiscal year 2008, ICE officers and sheriffs’ department personnel processed a total of 35,562 criminal aliens in the seven-county jurisdiction covered by ICE’s Los Angeles Office of Detention and Removal Operations, an increase of 12 percent compared to fiscal year 2007.  Of that number, a little less than one third were cases identified by sheriffs’ department personnel.  The remainder were criminal aliens identified and processed by ICE personnel at local, county and federal facilities throughout the Southland.

“The Orange County Sheriff’s Department is proud of our partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” said Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens. “Our Cross-Designation program has assisted us in identifying thousands of undocumented foreign nationals who have committed crimes and are booked into our jails. This collaboration keeps criminals from returning to the streets and increases the safety of our communities.”

The local growth in criminal alien cases is consistent with the national trend.  In fiscal year 2008, the number of criminal aliens charged by ICE while incarcerated nationwide soared to more than 221,000, more than three times the total from just two years before.  Ensuring criminal aliens held in the nation’s jails and prisons are targeted for removal rather than being released onto the streets is one of ICE’s top priorities through its Secure Communities program. 

The cornerstone of Secure Communities is the implementation of interoperable technology that will provide local law enforcement agencies immigration history information contained in DHS databases.  By spring 2009, it is estimated that some 50 law enforcement agencies will be utilizing this new process, with a target of 100 percent participation by 2011.  Already, 100 percent of inmates at federal and state facilities are being screened as part of CAP.  This new link to immigration databases ensures a virtual ICE presence at local jails as well.

Another ICE enforcement priority is reducing backlog of immigration fugitive cases and ensuring that deportation orders handed down by the nation’s immigration judges are enforced.  Today ICE has more than 100 Fugitive Operations Teams deployed nationwide to pursue these types of cases, including seven teams here in the Southland. 

In fiscal year 2008, the Los Angeles-area Fugitive Operations Team accounted for 3,300 arrests, a 23 percent increase compared to the previous year.  Nationwide, the teams recorded approximately 34,000 arrests, more than double the figure from just two years ago.  As a result of these efforts, the nation's fugitive alien population continues to decline.  Estimates now place the number of fugitive alien cases at slightly under 560,000, a decrease of nearly 37,000 in the fiscal year.  This is a historic reversal of the previous growth trend in fugitive cases.

Reflecting the impact of ICE’s heightened, strategic enforcement efforts, the number of illegal aliens repatriated by the agency in fiscal year 2008 jumped 20 percent.  During the past 12 months, ICE removed or returned a total of 349,041 illegal aliens to their native countries, compared to 288,663 aliens in fiscal year 2007.  Notably, one third of the illegal aliens removed from the United States last year were foreign nationals who had prior criminal convictions in addition to being in the country illegally. 

       # ICE #

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.  ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

Sheriff Sandra Hutches was the featured speaker last week at the Orange County Forum, a non-profit, non-partisan educational current affairs forum for leaders and headline makers in Orange County.  More than 200 attended the luncheon on Wednesday at the Hilton across from John Wayne Airport.

Here is some of what she told them:

Sheriff Hutchens began with some facts about the Department.

It is the second largest Sheriff’s Department in California.

It is the fifth largest Sheriff’s Department in the United States.

The Department has a $700 million annual budget and 4,000 employees.  We serve 12 contract cities, the Orange County Transportation Authority, Superior Court, John Wayne Airport and three harbors.

Our jail system is the second largest in the state, the eighth largest in the nation. Of the inmates we hold, 80 percent are charged with felonies and held in facilities designed for county misdemeanors.

We have a cross designation program with Immigration Customs Enforcement that enables our Deputies to screen for illegal immigrants in our jail. To date, 7,000 have to detained for action by ICE.  The program is a success. We are not able to track once they go to ICE. Of the 7,000, 4,400 are felons. We have been successful.

Our crime lab is one of the leading facilities in the country for DNA.

The Department has 230 reserves and 430 Professional Service Responders. 

“The PSR’s volunteered 20,000 hours in fiscal year 07-08. That is a 100 percent increase over a 3-year period,” Sheriff Hutchens said.  “You’ve heard about badges. Our PSRs are a wonderful group of people. They are doctors, lawyers, college professors.  I decided to take the badges not because I do not value their service, I took them because of an attorney general’s opinion.  The people of Orange County want their Sheriff to follow the law. “

She then described some of the community programs that help keep the crime rates low in our contract cities.

“ It’s about programs. We keep the children off the streets. We have  a lower crime rate.”

Sheriff Hutchens said she has been busy in her first three months in office.  More...

 January through July numbers for 2007, include partial numbers for January because program began on January 9, 2007.

 The numbers for 2008 show a slight reduction of total numbers and that is partially due to the need in 2007 to interview many of the 6,500 inmates incarcerated when the program began, in addition to those newly booked. In 2008, the interviews have virtually all involved recently booked inmates.

Captains Lee Trujillo (left) and Mark Billings 

Sheriff Sandra Hutchens announced the promotion of two captains and a reorganization of some divisions in the Department.

The two promotions went to Department members of long standing who have helped the Department with skill and dedication throughout their careers.  

For a look at the new organization chart click here: Scan003.pdf (27.09 kb)

Captain Lee Trujillo, a 23-year veteran of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, has been promoted to Captain and placed in charge of the Department's Investigations Divsion.

He previously had served as Chief of Police Services for the City of Stanton.

Captain Trujillo has held many positions with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, including patrol supervisor for San Clemente and Stanton, sergeant of the Directed Enforcement Team, and watch commander at the Intake Release Center (IRC) and the Emergency Communications Bureau (ECB).  Lt. Trujillo is also a former member of the Sheriff’s Department’s SWAT team and worked narcotics and gang enforcement.  He brings with him a wealth of experience and expertise.

Earlier this year he was awarded the Medal of Merit for his part in the setting up the Department's Cross Designation Program with Immigration Customs Enforcement to identify illegal immigrants incarcerated in the Department's jails.

Captain Mark Billings holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Biological Science from California State University, Fullerton and a Masters in Conflict Management from Caifornia State University Dominguez Hills.

He joined the Orange County Sheriff's Department in 1985 and worked Corrections until 1989. He was promoted to Deputy II in 1989 and held assignments in Special Enforcement, Traffic and served as a Field Training Officer. He promoted to Sergeant in 1995 and returned to Corrections until being assigned as a Tactical Sergeant at the Sheriff's Basic Academy. He served at the Academy from 1996 to 2000.

He was made Lieutenant in 2000 and worked Corrections, as a Watch Commander and as the County Mutual Aid Coordinator-Terrorism Warning Group Chair/Commander, Operations Support Division from 2001 to 2002. In 2002 he was assigned as Chief of Police Services to the City of Dana Point and he remained there until 2006. He was named Commander of hte Sheriff's Regional Training Academy in 2006 and served in that position until his promotion to Captain and Command of the newly formed Homeland Security Divison. In 1994 he was named Dana Point Deputy of the Year and was a Gold Star recipient, ACT  and Course Instructor  at the Basic Academy, and trained as a Drug Recognition Expert.

Orange County Register Reporter Amy Taxin and Photographer Leonard Ortiz spent time with five Deputies who are completing on the job training to become Cross-Designated Agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  The journalists observed the deputies during part of their on the job training at the Intake Release Center earlier this week.

To see their report, click here.

Updated
Five Deputies graduated on Friday, May 9 after completing a four-week-long intensive training program on immigration law and Immigration and Customs Enforcement procedures for removal of undocumented individuals booked our jails.  Once they return they will receive additional training from our deputies who are already ICE trained as well as one week of training with the Federal ICE agents over at the Federal building in Santa Ana.

The deputies will be cross-designated as ICE agents and will serve as such in our jails.   They were trained at the Mecklenberg County Sheriff’s Department in North Carolina.

The five Deputies are Jesus Hernandez, Naomi Jimenez, Cynthia Mata, Hector Martinez and Art Tiscareno.

On December 21, 2006, twelve deputies and two sergeants successfully completed the four week training course for the 287(g) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cross-designation program.  The newly trained deputies will also be cross designated as limited authority ICE agents.

Due to recent transfers, four of the deputies will remain at the IRC and one will go to Theo Lacy after they complete their on the job training here.

Acting Sheriff Jack Anderson attended the graduation and delivered these remarks.

Good Afternoon. I want to thank you for inviting me to be here today. I’m Assistant Sheriff Jack Anderson, currently acting as the Sheriff of Orange County, California.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department is currently in its 2nd year of screening for undocumented foreign nationals during the booking process in our jails.

We pursued our partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement because it was essential that we reduce crime, reduce jail overcrowding and reduce cases in our court system.

For us, the Cross-Designation program is not about immigration, it’s about law enforcement. More...

This video was featured at the Medal of Valor luncheon last Friday. The Register covered the ceremony here.

From the Orange County Register:

For more than a year the Orange County Sheriff's Department has had specially-trained deputies screening county jail inmates for immigration status. Arrestees who are determined to be in this country illegally are detained and turned over to federal immigration authorities after their criminal cases are resolved.

Out of about 68,000 arrestees who were screened between Jan. 2007 and January of this year, 4,683 were found to be illegal immigrants, or about 7 percent of all screened arrestees. (About 3,000 of them had been arrested for non-immigration-related felonies, the rest for non-immigration misdemeanors.)

Read it all right here.

New opportunities and challenges demand that we constantly reevaluate our operation. Whether we implement new programs and services, collaborate with fellow law enforcement agencies, or work with outside organizations to utilize the best technology and resources, our focus must always be on our mission and whether the changes we implement will help us in exceeding expectations in our service to the community.

Throughout the history of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department we have been steadfast in our mission: To provide professional, responsive and caring law enforcement services to the residents, businesses and visitors of Orange County. Our unwavering focus on this mission has created one of the safest places to live, work and play, and those we serve continue to be satisfied and confident in our work.

Of course, we don’t rest on our laurels. Our ability to be responsive, creative and innovative to the changing needs of the community is essential. We continue to make tremendous strides, joining LiNX, a regional information sharing system; supporting the Office of Independent Review, growing our Cross-Designation program and addressing the operational strain of our growing jails.

Many challenges and opportunities are ahead, but the community we serve can rest assured that the men and women of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department remain committed to our role and flexible in our approach.

Thank you for all you do for the residents, businesses and visitors we serve each and every day.

The new Consul of Mexico in Santa Ana and two of his top aides came to Department Headquarters on Friday to meet Assistant Sheriff Jack Anderson, Acting as the Sheriff-Coroner.

“We want to insure that all foreign dignitaries are safe in Orange County,” Acting Sheriff Anderson told the trio of Mexican diplomats.  He told Consul Carlos Rodriguez y Quezada that the Department had a good working relationship with his predecessor.

When problems arose, the Department and the consulate staff worked together to solve them, Acting Sheriff Anderson said.  When the consulate staff found itself the target of a protest in San Juan Capistrano, the Department stood by to insure the protest was peaceful.

“It’s not our job to take sides,” Acting Sheriff Anderson said. “We will only take action if we see someone breaking the law.”

Consul Rodriguez y Quezada was accompanied to the meeting by Deputy Consul Manuel Herrera and Vice Consul Connie Capulin.

He added that a controversial issue in the community is illegal immigration. More...