Immigration Enforcement by Local Police
ESCONDIDO, Calif. (AP) -- State and local police across the country didn't need the U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding Arizona's "show me your papers" immigration law to begin turning people over to the federal government for deportation.
Since late 2007, they have helped identify nearly 20 percent of the nation's 1.6 million deportations.
It's a trend that will likely accelerate.
The Obama administration plans to expand a program in which local police share fingerprints of those accused of breaking the law for federal officials to identify those they want to put into deportation proceedings.
The administration is making clear that federal authorities have always had -- and will continue to have -- the final say on who gets deported.
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Associated Press writer Alicia Caldwell in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
AP-WF-06-26-12 2216GMT
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