More than 4,000 illegal immigrants were taken into custody in North Carolina during the past fiscal year after stepped-up enforcement efforts supported by local law enforcement agencies, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Raleigh News and Observer reported that the agency’s Atlanta Field Office reported the incarceration of 9,182 “criminal aliens” in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina in the year ending Oct. 30.
ICE said partnerships with the Wake County Sheriff’s Office, the Durham Police Department and other local agencies led to record numbers of captures and deportations of criminal aliens. The Atlanta office issued deportation orders for 17,955 illegal residents last year, up from 11,006 the year before. The Criminal Alien Program enacted in June 2007 to address the issue of illegal immigrants incarcerated in federal and state prisons and local jails led to removal proceedings for 7,000 illegal immigrants in the three states, ICE said, compared with removal proceedings for 3,722 criminal aliens the previous year.