San Bernardino County, Calif., supervisors last week approved a program to identify illegal immigrants booked into the county's jails and turn them over to federal immigration authorities for possible deportation.

The plan is similar to one that drew fire when it was approved in Los Angeles County earlier this year. If funded as expected by San Bernardino County, the two counties would be the only ones in California with such programs, said the California State Sheriff's Assn. The Los Angeles County program will target only convicted inmates; San Bernardino County would interview all inmates.

The programs have drawn strong criticism from activists supporting immigrant rights, who say that immigrants - legal and illegal - will start to view law officers as immigration agents and will be afraid to seek help or report crimes.

San Bernardino County estimated that about 15% of the nearly 5,500 inmates in its jails daily are in the country illegally and that many aren't flagged for immigration violations.

The county intends to broker an agreement with the federal government to have immigration agents train nine jail staff members, who could interview all inmates and mark those here illegally for immigration violations.

Immigration agents would supervise this work and take detainees into custody. Currently, the legal status of inmates is checked only by federal agents, whose numbers are limited.

County supervisors are expected to approve spending about $600,000 on the program within a month. It could be implemented as soon as November, officials said. The Sheriff's Department sees the program as a cost-saving measure, saying it takes about $47 a day to house an inmate, whose average stay in a detention center is 28 days.

Supervisor Paul Biane said the program was not aimed at legal immigrants.