{"id":16651,"date":"2018-03-13T15:13:30","date_gmt":"2018-03-13T19:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=16651"},"modified":"2018-12-28T10:45:05","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T15:45:05","slug":"activists-nationwide-target-federal-immigration-enforcement-program-one-north-carolina-sheriff-stands-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2018\/03\/13\/activists-nationwide-target-federal-immigration-enforcement-program-one-north-carolina-sheriff-stands-ground\/","title":{"rendered":"Activists Nationwide Target Federal Immigration Enforcement Program, But One North Carolina Sheriff Stands His Ground"},"content":{"rendered":"
On March 2, officials in Hudson County, New Jersey announced their decision to stop participating in the 287(g) program<\/a>, a voluntary initiative created by Congress to enable local police and sheriffs\u2019 departments to inform federal officials of deportable aliens in their custody.<\/p>\n The New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) took credit for the \u201cpush\u201d that caused Hudson Country to end the program.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a county where nearly half of all residents are immigrants, participation in 287(g) exposed our neighbors to the risk of being swept up in the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign and endangered everyone here,\u201d the NJ-ACLU said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n The New York chapter also has 287(g) in its sights. The NY-ACLU notified the Rensselaer County Sheriff\u2019s office of its intent to monitor \u201cimplementation of this agreement to ensure that civil rights abuses including racial profiling, which have accompanied such programs in other states,\u201d occur in the county.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sheriff\u2019s decision to deputize officers to work on behalf of ICE will sow distrust between immigrant communities and law enforcement,\u201d Melanie Trimble, NY-ACLU Capital Region director, said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n But similar campaigns may not work in convincing Mecklenburg County, North Carolina Sheriff Irwin Carmichael to end it.<\/p>\n Since the county began participating in 287(g) in 2006, nearly 4,000 of the total 15,478 inmates processed for deportation have been arrested on DWI charges. At the time it started, law enforcement were only able to identify one-third of those in jails.<\/p>\n \u201cOur whole purpose for having it is to know who is in our jail,\u201d Carmichael told reporters today during a press conference<\/a> to clear the air about the program.<\/p>\n It was the latest effort by Carmichael to counter misinformation made by activist groups, county councilmen and officials of the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners (BOCC). In January, New Charlotte City Council member Braxton Winston called for its end<\/a>, asserting 287(g) was creating fear among immigrant communities. And the program has become an issue in the May election for sheriff where Carmichael, a Democrat, will face two other candidates who want 287(g) ended.<\/p>\n