In an effort to collect data on people in Lubbock who may be here illegally, the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Department created the “287 G” program.
Sheriff Kelly Rowe said the program identifies the demographics of inmates in the Lubbock Country Jail, and the origin of their descent.
“As of yesterday, our 287 G program just met its one year anniversary,” Rowe said. “A program we have with immigration custom enforcement.”
According to data from the program, hundreds of individuals in the Lubbock County Jail are in the country illegally.
“We’re well over 300 individuals that are identified that have some issue of are have already been previously deported,” Rowe said.
Although some are coming from Mexico, Sheriff Rowe said the majority are from countries all over the world.
“We have individuals from Norway, Kazakhstan, Romania, multiple African countries, Cameroon, Nigeria, Somalia, so it’s not just isolated to Mexico,” Rowe said.
Rowe said one of the biggest challenges he sees in the jail is drug addiction.
“70 percent of the individuals sitting in Lubbock County Detention Center today are in there because they are addicted to something,” Rowe said. “They may not be in there because of the possession or the delivery of the controlled substance, they’re in there for the burglary or the theft they did to support the habit.”
Sheriff Rowe said drug trafficking in Lubbock has exploded since 2014, and what used to be considered a substantial bust, is now routine.
“When you think about what that’s doing, the community impact that has, it impacts our jail population,” Rowe said.
Sheriff Rowe said border security directly impacts this issue, and controlled borders will work to disrupt the volume of narcotics that are coming into our community.
