Since then, the county has turned over more than 2,000 suspected illegal immigrants to the federal government, and crime last year reached a 15-year low.

Other Northern Virginia jurisdictions also have turned over hundreds of suspected illegal immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement through their own programs.

But law enforcement officials remain wary about their new roles enforcing federal law, and immigration experts and immigrant advocates warn that such steps can have negative consequences, such as racial profiling and a loss of trust with local police.

Local partnerships with ICE 

">
Jurisdiction	program
Manassas	287(g)
Manassas Park	287(g)
Herndon	287(g)
Loudoun County	287(g), Secure Communities
Prince William County	287(g), Secure Communities
Frederick County, Md.	287(g)
Fairfax County	Secure Communities
Prince George's County	Secure Communities
Alexandria	Secure Communities
Arlington County	Secure Communities

Implementing Prince William's crackdown involved drafting a legally soundpolicy and training hundreds of officers, as well as conducting a significant community outreach program with more than 300 meetings, said Deputy Police Chief Barry Barnard.

"It was a new role for us," he said. "Traditionally, local law enforcement doesn't enforce immigration laws."

The county partnered with the federal government under the 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement officials to enforce certain immigration laws.

Prince William's original proposal was so sweeping that it asked county officials if it would be possible to keep illegal immigrants off county roads and away from the county Web site.

County supervisors scaled back the measure, voting in October 2007 to direct police officers to check the residency status of crime suspects if they had probable cause to believe they were in the country illegally.

In 2008, the policy was changed to require officers to check the status of everyone arrested. Officers then had to be retrained, Barnard said.

Loudoun also participates in 287(g), as well as the federal Secure Communities program, which Sheriff Stephen O. Simspon said he prefers because it runs fingerprints of everyone arrested through biometric immigration records held by the Department of Homeland Security and FBI criminal records.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell campaigned last year on expanding the 287(g) program statewide. The administration is "reviewing our options" on the program, said spokeswoman Stacey Johnson.

Fairfax County, aided by Secure Communities, has turned over more than 1,200 suspected illegal immigrants to ICE in the last year.

"It's a delicate path for local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws," Sheriff Stan Barry said. "We were definitely getting into it gingerly."

In Calvert County, officers retain discretion on turning names over to ICE.

"If there's something suspicious about [the] individual, if something just doesn't seem right, like they don't possess a valid license ... some info that just seems out of place ... we will turn their names over to ICE," said Assistant Sheriff Lt. Col. Tom Hejl.

Both Calvert's policy and Prince William's 2007 measure are similar to Arizona's new law, which says that police can demand to check residency status if officers have "reasonable suspicion" that people are in the country illegally.

"Local enforcement of immigration laws is dangerous business," said Alan Kraut, an American University professor of immigration history. "I think the only way to avoid it is for the federal government to act."

Though the scale of the programs in the region and Arizona are clearly different, there are similarities, said Audrey Singer of the Brookings Institution, who wrote a report about Prince William's policy.

Both Prince William and Arizona experienced a significant amount of demographic growth and change, as people flocked to the areas that boasted jobs and economic opportunities.

Prince William, though, ended up softening its original wording, she noted. As for Arizona?

"I think everybody now is waiting for the lawsuits," she said.

Examiner Staff Writers Hayley Peterson and William C. Flook contributed to this report.

dsherfinski@washingtonexaminer.com

April 29, 2010