CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Within weeks, the 1,000th illegal immigrant to be booked into the Mecklenburg County jail will be put on the list to be deported.

Since May, twenty Meckleburg County Sheriff's deputies have been screening inmates booked into the jail to see if they're in the country illegally.

Those 20 deputies were trained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a branch of Homeland Security.

Mecklenburg County is one of only seven local jurisdictions in the nation to have local law enforcement specially trained.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Julie Myers said "this example shows the government can't do it on our own, and we're very dependent on our state and local governments."

The program has been working so well here, Mecklenburg County Sheriff Jim Pendergraph will travel to Washington on Wednesday to discuss with Homeland Security officials, building a new detention center here in the county.

Right now, the 930 illegal immigrants charged by deputies are sent to a federal detention center in Atlanta.

Most of the illegal immigrants sent to that facility are from North Carolina.

The biggest problem with deportation is many of these illegals not only find their way back into the country, they find their way back into Mecklenburg County, some committing the same crimes again.

Sheriff Jim Pendergraph said it's a problem, but "someone asked me, does this make a difference, when you take 1000 people from your community that have committed crimes, it makes a difference, " and added, "if we have to deport the same people 25 times, we will."

Pendergraph said, even if they come back, the county is much better off now than it was a year ago.

The 287 (g) program is also in Florida, Arizona, Alabama, and three counties in California.