[105th Congress Public Law 141]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
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[DOCID: f:publ141.105]
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Public Law 105-141
105th Congress
An Act
To require the Attorney General to establish a program in local prisons
to identify, prior to arraignment, criminal aliens and aliens who are
unlawfully present in the United States, and for other
purposes. <<NOTE: Dec. 5, 1997 - [H.R. 1493]>>
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. PROGRAM <<NOTE: 8 USC 1226 note.>> OF IDENTIFICATION OF
CERTAIN DEPORTABLE ALIENS AWAITING ARRAIGNMENT.
(a) Establishment of Program.--Not later than 6 months after the
date of the enactment of this Act, and subject to such amounts as are
provided in appropriations Acts, the Attorney General shall establish
and implement a program to identify, from among the individuals who are
incarcerated in local governmental incarceration facilities prior to
arraignment on criminal charges, those individuals who are within 1 or
more of the following classes of deportable aliens:
(1) Aliens unlawfully present in the United States.
(2) Aliens described in paragraph (2) or (4) of section
237(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (as redesignated
by section 305(a)(2) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and
Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996).
(b) Description of Program.--The program authorized by subsection
(a) shall include--
(1) the detail, to each incarceration facility selected
under subsection (c), of at least one employee of the
Immigration and Naturalization Service who has expertise in the
identification of aliens described in subsection (a); and
(2) provision of funds sufficient to provide for--
(A) the detail of such employees to each selected
facility on a full-time basis, including the portions of
the day or night when the greatest number of individuals
are incarcerated prior to arraignment;
(B) access for such employees to records of the
Service and other Federal law enforcement agencies that
are necessary to identify such aliens; and
(C) in the case of an individual identified as such
an alien, pre-arraignment reporting to the court
regarding the Service's intention to remove the alien
from the United States.
(c) Selection of Facilities.--
(1) In general.--The Attorney General shall select for
participation in the program each incarceration facility that
satisfies the following requirements:
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(A) The facility is owned by the government of a
local political subdivision described in clause (i) or
(ii) of subparagraph (C).
(B) Such government has submitted a request for such
selection to the Attorney General.
(C) The facility is located--
(i) in a county that is determined by the
Attorney General to have a high concentration of
aliens described in subsection (a); or
(ii) in a city, town, or other analogous local
political subdivision, that is determined by the
Attorney General to have a high concentration of
such aliens (but only in the case of a facility
that is not located in a county).
(D) The facility incarcerates or processes
individuals prior to their arraignment on criminal
charges.
(2) Number of qualifying subdivisions.--For any fiscal year,
the total number of local political subdivisions determined
under clauses (i) and (ii) of paragraph (1)(C) to meet the
standard in such clauses shall be the following:
(A) For fiscal year 1999, not less than 10 and not
more than 25.
(B) For fiscal year 2000, not less than 25 and not
more than 50.
(C) For fiscal year 2001, not more than 75.
(D) For fiscal year 2002, not more than 100.
(E) For fiscal year 2003 and subsequent fiscal
years, 100, or such other number of political
subdivisions as may be specified in appropriations Acts.
(3) Facilities in interior states.--For any fiscal year, of
the local political subdivisions determined under clauses (i)
and (ii) of paragraph (1)(C) to meet the standard in such
clauses, not less than 20 percent shall be in States that are
not contiguous to a land border.
(4) Treatment of certain facilities.--All of the
incarceration facilities within the county of Orange,
California, and the county of Ventura, California, that are
owned by the government of a local political subdivision, and
satisfy the requirements of paragraph (1)(D), shall be selected
for participation in the program.
SEC. 2. <<NOTE: 8 USC 1226 note.>> STUDY AND REPORT.
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act,
the Attorney General shall complete a study, and submit a report to the
Congress, concerning the logistical and technological feasibility of
implementing the program under section 1 in a greater number of
locations than those selected under such section through--
(1) the assignment of a single Immigration and
Naturalization Service employee to more than 1 incarceration
facility; and
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(2) the development of a system to permit the Attorney
General to conduct off-site verification, by computer or other
electronic means, of the immigration status of individuals who
are incarcerated in local governmental incarceration facilities
prior to arraignment on criminal charges.
Approved December 5, 1997.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--H.R. 1493:
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HOUSE REPORTS: No. 105-338 (Comm. on the Judiciary).
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 143 (1997):
Nov. 4, considered and passed House.
Nov. 13, considered and passed Senate.
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