COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- A budget-writing panel has agreed to send illegal immigrants in South Carolina prisons to federal authorities in order to save money.
A House subcommittee approved a measure Tuesday to take illegal immigrants out of state prisons after they've completed at least a third of their sentence and send them to Immigration and Customs Enforcement if a deportation order has been issued.
Those who returned to the state would have to serve the rest of their sentence without parole.
Federal Bureau of Prisons data shows the state had 574 illegal immigrants during the last fiscal year.
The full Ways and Means committee begins discussing the $5.2 billion spending plan next week, along temporary law changes like the immigration measure.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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