Deportation fear fuels flight to Venezuela

In less than three weeks, Wake County detention officers will have the power to start deportation proceedings against immigrants who pass through the county jail. The program is being anxiously debated and discussed in the Triangle immigrant community, with some people deciding to leave the country rather than chance an encounter with a police officer that could lead to deportation. Eighteen Wake jailers will graduate Friday from five weeks of special training by federal immigration officers. Deputies from Cumberland and Henderson counties, where jailhouse deportation programs are expected to begin soon, will also receive certificates in the Raleigh ceremony. The federal program, named 287 (g) after a provision in federal law, has a tentative start date of July 1 in Wake County. Once Wake and the other two counties begin, North Carolina will have seven counties where federally trained local law enforcement officers can start deportation procedures against legal and illegal immigrants accused or convicted of crimes, more than any other state in the country, federal immigration officials said.