Feds reportedly targeting 1,200+ state prisoners for deportation

ATLANTA - Published reports say the federal government is targeting more than 12-hundred state prisoners - some of them illegal immigrants - for possible deportation.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says documents obtained under Georgia's Open Records Act show those on the list have been convicted of murder, rape and other offenses.

Housing inmates facing deportation, according to the report, is costing the state about $23 million a year.

The newspaper says the federal government has issued detainers on the prisoners targeted for deportation, asking the state to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement before any of them are released from prison.