Since jails in Washington state began checking the immigration status of people arrested, 567 have been deported.

The routine checking of arrested people's immigration status is part of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Secure Communities program. On Wednesday, I wrote about how Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel plans to ignore the program, and proclaimed Chicago "the most immigrant-friendly city in the country."

Washington state should do the same if it wants to support farms that are having trouble harvesting spring and summer crops. Asparagus and cherry farmers say they are having trouble recruiting labor.

The Seattle office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement gave more information Wednesday about how the program is working in this state. All jails in the state are sending arrested individuals' fingerprints to national databases for immigration status verification. Most areas put the practice into place in April.

Across the country, 97 percent of jurisdictions are actively doing the same, except for Illinois and parts of Alabama.

According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 56,633 arrests in Washington state have been checked for immigration status since 2011. Out of those checked, 3,262 came back indicating the arrested person was in the country illegally and had a criminal history. Out of those identified, 567 were deported, according to Andrew Munoz, spokesman for the office. Munoz says other cases may still be pending.

Nationally, 198,012 people have been deported based on the Secure Communities program from October 2008 to May 2012. Here is the most recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement report.