Philadelphia Inquirer
Charlotte, North Carolina -- In the Mecklenburg County jail, an inmate in an orange jumpsuit puts his finger on an electronic pad and watches his fingerprint appear on a computer screen.
Within minutes, the computer returns a name - Arturo Romero - with photographs and a rap sheet that details a history of petty offenses and illegal entries into the United States from Mexico.
Romero, arrested here for having an open container of beer in a vehicle, now faces a trip to an immigration detention center in Atlanta and deportation to Mexico.
In booming Charlotte, where rapid growth and plentiful jobs have attracted thousands of illegal immigrants, Romero is the latest catch in an aggressive new effort to turn routine arrests into one-way tickets out of the country.
Posted by tyne at October 17, 2006