Far fewer immigrants arrested by California law enforcement are being turned over to federal authorities for deportation since a new state law went into effect in January.
The law known as the Trust Act directs law enforcement agencies to more quickly release those without serious criminal records rather than hold them for federal immigration officials.
It was expected the law would reduce the number of jailed immigrants turned over for possible deportation but it wasn't clear how significant the drop would be.
The Associated Press surveyed 23 county sheriffs' departments about the new law. Not all supplied data for the first two months of this year, but among the 15 that did, there was a 44 per cent drop in the number of people turned over to immigration officials.
