Illegal aliens charged with crimes will now face deportation even before they go to trial under a pilot program announced Thursday by the state of Florida and the federal government.

"Deporting criminal aliens is an important part of the strategy to open up space in our prisons for more dangerous offenders," Gov. Lawton Chiles said.Chiles, in the midst of a tough re-election battle, made the announcement with Doris Meissner, commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Florida INS Director Dan Cadman and state pros-e-cu-tors.

Florida already has begun deporting some illegal immigrants serving prison time for nonviolent crimes. Eligible inmates receive clemency in exchange for agreeing to be deported and not return.

In the new program, to be tested for three months in Monroe, Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, aliens will be deported after they are charged instead of being brought to trial.

Florida spends about $60 million a year on the 2,700 aliens in its prisons. So far, about 165 imprisoned illegal immigrants, mostly drug traffickers, have been approved for deportation.

Chiles is facing a strong challenge from Republican Jeb Bush, a son of former President George Bush. A Bush spokesman dismissed the program as a "political stunt."

"You're not going to solve our prison problem by deporting a few illegal immigrants," Cory Tilley said Wednesday.

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