As part of the City Council’s regularly scheduled June 23 Work Session meeting, Irving Police Chief Larry Boyd addressed the city’s continued commitment to the 24/7 Criminal Alien Program (CAP).
During the presentation, Boyd indicated that the Police Department continues to work closely with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and refers all prisoners to the agency—regardless of criminal charges.
CAP was implemented by the Police Department in September 2006, in partnership with ICE. Any individual—regardless of race—who breaks Texas law is arrested by the police and taken to the Irving jail. Once in jail, individuals are screened through CAP, and those prisoners whose identity or citizenship are in question are referred to ICE officials to determine their residency status. Those found to be in the country illegally are deported by ICE, which has resulted in almost 5,800 holds since the implementation of the program.
Although the Police Department continues to screen all prisoners and refer any prisoner who meets the criteria to ICE, Boyd indicated that ICE had recently stopped processing some prisoners with only Class C misdemeanors. The decision on whether to process referrals for deportation lies with the federal agency. This past week, though, Boyd said that ICE has resumed processing prisoners who have only Class C misdemeanor charges.
According to Boyd, no other program in the country has been as effective at assisting the federal government with fulfilling its responsibility for enforcing federal immigration law.
