Federal authorities refused Loudoun County’s bid to check the legal status of its jail inmates, citing concerns about limited bed space and strained federal capacity to remove illegal immigrants, county Sheriff Steve Simpson said.

A partnership announced Tuesday with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents allows county gang investigators to check the legal status of the crime suspects Simpson called “the worst of the worst.”

Three sheriff’s office gang investigators began training with ICE this week in South Carolina; the program is expected to be running later this summer.

The limited terms of the partnership reflect how the strong national interest in tougher local illegal immigration enforcement has reduced the scope of the federal partnerships as ICE scrambles to keep up with the increasing number of illegals whom local jurisdictions arrest.

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The neighboring Prince William County jail handed over more than 700 inmates to federal custody since establishing an ICE partnership in July 2007 in an effort marred by high-profile overcrowding and lengthy delays in removing the illegals from the jail.

But other counties face longer odds to pursue the so-called 287-g agreements, with 90 pending requests from governments around the country.

The lack of local jail space is a critical problem in Northern Virginia. Both Prince William County and Loudoun County paid other jails to house their excess inmates, giving them little room to handle illegal immigrants awaiting deportation hearings.

“One of the sticking points has always been jail space,” Simpson said. “As you know, that’s something we don’t have.”

ICE spokeswoman Ernestine Fobbs said the agreement with Loudoun County reflects both agencies’ best interests and will address the community’s concerns — especially with gang violence.

“We don’t necessarily need to have the same program in every community,” Fobbs said. “We look at how we are going to address the needs of the community.”

Given the national competition for any agreement, Simpson said the county was lucky.

“I really feel fortunate we were able to strike this deal, because I know there are 100 agencies that are waiting,” Simpson said.

However, Simpson also said the deal fell short of the county’s goals to ensure that illegal immigrants who break local laws, even multiple times, would be subject to deportation reviews.

“I wanted it to be on the street and in the jail because of one of the concerns we have: Is this going to touch everyone who is arrested and taken to jail? Obviously it’s not,” Simpson told The Examiner.

Staff Writer David Sherfinski contributed to this story.

dgenz@dcexaminer.com