I have been trying to find out if Washington State determines immigrant status of felons and if felons whether legal or illegal immigrants are then processed for deportation. I emailed Governor Gregpoire and received and email from Tracy Myer (Correspondence Unit, Communications Department) referring me to policy documents on the state web site, particularly policy 330.700, 350.200 and 350.700. After reviewing these documents, I came to the conclusions that at this point in an inmate’s incarceration the only policy is to deport an inmate if the Federal Government has a hold on an inmate.
The next question is where, if at all, in the arrest to incarceration process, whether city, county or state, is the immigration status determined. Do any of you know? Do you share my concerns of removing felons from our country? Does your state establish immigration status of felons? Isn’t this one swmall but serious place to start dealing with the immigration problem?