FRANKFORT, Ky. (WYMT) – Illegal immigration was a big topic at an Interim Legislative Committee hearing on Tuesday.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent told lawmakers that the deportation process is based on many factors and is carried out by a limited number of people.

The ICE official told lawmakers they often work inside Kentucky prisons trying to find out who is in the state illegally or legally. Then they move on to the long and often tedious process of determining whether or not a person should be deported.

Jeremy Bacon is the field office director for ICE. Bacon said he oversees a staff of just 27 people who handle immigration issues for the entire state of Kentucky and part of southern Indiana. They look at people in prisons and begin the process that could ultimately decide who gets deported and who doesn’t. Sometimes it results in people simply being released back into the community.

“If it’s somebody who’s simply here without documents, who’s never been through the immigration process, they have a right to be heard by an immigration judge, and those proceedings don’t happen quickly,” Bacon said.

Asked by lawmakers if that was the case even if the person was a threat to society, Bacon said “100 percent, even if he is a threat to society.”

Bacon told lawmakers that every situation is different.

Even though someone may be in Kentucky illegally, that doesn’t necessarily mean they will be immediately deported.

Tuesday marked the last interim meeting of the state government committee before the next legislative session begins in January.

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