WASHINGTON (Map, News) - New immigration screenings of inmates at the Prince William County Adult Detention Center have already flagged more than 450 people for potential deportation, Prince William County Chairman Corey Stewart said Tuesday.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have picked up 242 of those inmates believed to be illegal immigrants and another 215 are waiting in the jail to be processed in the so-called 287-g partnership the county began in July.

“We’ve used our 287-g authority to remove illegal immigrants who have committed crimes from this community,” Stewart said.

The initial figures reflect steps the county has already taken and ease early concerns that ICE could only accommodate 40 inmates per month. A controversial plan to expand the immigration screenings to traffic stops and those arrested for misdemeanors will be implemented sometime next year, Stewart said.

Data on the detention center obtained by The Examiner in September showed that suspects arrested for crimes as minor as trespassing and as major as murder were being referred to ICE for deportation.

Woodbridge immigrant activist Ricardo Juarez of Mexicanos Sin Fronteras (Mexicans Without Borders) said the new numbers raise concerns that immigrants may be facing more police scrutiny than they had in the past.

“I am concerned that they are hunting people,” Juarez said. “I think they are under pressure to show big numbers.”

But anti-illegal-immigration leader Greg Letiecq, president of Help Save Manassas, countered that the plan is only used on people whose immigration status should have been checked in the past.

“Illegal immigrants are getting the message they’re not going to have catch and release anymore,” he said.

dgenz@dcexaminer.com