As the number of immigrants continues to grow in the Valley, law enforcement is dealing with a growing number of illegals.

Some deputies in the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office now have some authority in the deportation of illegal aliens. Immigration and Customs Enforcement still handles most of the deportation process, but five of the deputies completed a training program that allows them to fill out the paperwork if a criminal comes in and they find out the person is illegal.

Before the deputies received training allowing them to serve as in-house agents for ICE, the sheriff's department had to wait for an ICE agent to take care of an illegal immigrant.

"If possible, they would get there to take care of the proper paperwork to start getting this person in the process to go before a judge to possibly be deported," says Rockingham County Sheriff Don Farley. "Sometimes because of their caseload, that just did not materialize."

But now that the deputies went through the training that allows them to do the paperwork, the deportation process moves along quicker. But the sheriff's office isn't targeting every illegal.

"The people that are here, that are hardworking, paying the taxes that need to be paid, they're a positive part of our society, I'm not worried about those," says Farley.

Even though the trained deputies are taking on a little federal responsibility, they still have to wait for an ICE agent to sign off on the paperwork. However, Farley says the training will help keep the community safer.

"Those that are here illegally, they're preying on our society, they're criminals. Those are the people that better understand that after August the 1st, there's a much greater chance that they're going to be going home," says Farley. "And home is not Rockingham County or the city of Harrisonburg."

An immigration counselor agrees that illegal immigrants who commit crimes should face consequences. But she is concerned that not many people in the Hispanic community know about this and hope somehow they learn about the new deportation process in the county.

Sheriff Farley says the deputies will start taking on this new responsibility in August.