Thread: NC-Sheriff: We're following the rules on 287 (g)

Sheriff: We're following the rules on 287 (g)

August 21, 2008 - 6:16PM
Robert Boyer / Times-News
Recent accusations that his office fails to follow federal mandates for the 287 (g) immigration enforcement program are unfounded, Sheriff Terry Johnson says.

On Monday, several county residents said at the Alamance County Board of Commissioners' meeting that the sheriff's office, as part of a signed memorandum of understanding, is required to set up a steering committee and create a procedure to register complaints about 287 (g), the program administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that gives some of the county's deputies and detention officers Immigration and Customs Enforcement powers.

Since Aug. 7, 109 people, mostly county residents, have signed an online petition calling on the sheriff and the county commissioners to comply with the memorandum, and to "fulfill their promises regarding the 287g program and stop targeting the Hispanic population at large and arresting valued members of our community.

"We call for an end to the expenditure of valued public resources on the incarceration and deportation of undocumented individuals with traffic infractions and minor offenses," the petition continues.
"Valued members of our community have been arrested, crime victims have been deported and children have been mistreated in the process. Moreover, the Sheriff has not legally complied with the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). More than one year into the implementation of the program, there is no 287g steering committee to provide oversight of the program as required by law in section XIII of the MOU. There is also no complaint mechanism in place as required by law under the MOU."

"Before the agreement could be signed we had to have an oversight committee," Johnson said Thursday.

Capt. Alan Miles, Sgt. Dan Cubino, Sgt. Jerry Williams and Lt. Randy Denham (who replaced Lt. Robert Wilborn) are the current members of the committee. Detention Director Coley Rich is the only employee on the committee who has not been trained by Immigration, Johnson said.

Committee members regularly consult, but since they work together, the body has no formal meetings. Johnson said he meets with them, usually on Mondays, to get updates.

The sheriff added that he and some committee members meet with ICE officials from Atlanta and Washington, D.C. every six months or so. The last such meeting was on May 6.

Johnson said the jail has a manual "that outlines the grievance procedures" for any detention-related issue, including complaints about 287 (g). The manual, available in English and Spanish and given to each inmate, outlines how Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees can file complaints, Johnson added.

Despite the recent furor over 287 (g), "we've had no formal complaints ... from the outside public," Johnson said.

Johnson said the calls for more oversight are an attempt to attack the county's 287 (g) program.

"What they're wanting ... is to bring in citizens that don't know a thing about immigration or the immigration law. And what they're looking to do is try to supplant somebody on a committee that is a radical the other way," the sheriff said. "And I'm not going to have it. That ain't going to happen."

Nevertheless, the sheriff said he and others in his agency have been considering "for some time" creating a citizens' oversight committee for "everything we do here in this sheriff's office."

Johnson said he wants on this committee Democrats, Republicans, women and "even a Hispanic, if they were here legally." Having such an advisory board would "probably, in the long run ... help us in getting word out to the community."

Johnson isn't the only county official considering creating such a group.

"The commissioners are in the process of talking about creating a committee that includes more than just law enforcement officers," said Commissioner Chairman Larry Sharpe.

Commissioner Vice-Chairman Dan Ingle is heading up the process. The board could come up with a recommendation as early as their next meeting on Sept. 2, Sharpe said.

Sharpe, who has said he thinks the local 287 (g) program is "out of control," wants a committee palatable to those on both sides of the debate "so that people have a better understanding" of the program.

"Hopefully there is a compromise that everyone can come to, including the sheriff."

Critics say deputies are targeting and arresting Hispanics for minor traffic violations so they can be processed through 287 (g) and deported. Johnson, as he has from the beginning, insists that's not the case. His deputies are simply enforcing all the laws, regardless of ethnicity or legal status, he said.

Hispanics and non-Hispanics alike are arrested for some minor traffic violations when they fail to provide valid identification or fail to provide a name and birth date that matches the registration of the vehicle they are driving, he said.

Deputies make those arrests, in part, Johnson said, so they can sort out the identity of the person at the jail and avoid charging the wrong person with a crime. If drivers can produce a valid ID, or provide information that matches the vehicle's registration, they are typically given a ticket but not arrested.

"You don't get processed here for a violation unless you come into this jail on another charge," the sheriff said. "You're not being deported because you're DWI or no operator's license or child molestation, you're being deported because you're here illegally."




http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/rules_ ... riff_.html

Oh, sheesh! Aren't we already wrapped up in more red tape than we can handle and rule by committee that will do whatever it wants any way? Does anyone in this country need another layer of committee?

lsharpe@vantagesouth.com; dingle3@elon.edu; slashley@bellsouth.net; timdsutton@justice.com; ann.vaughan@alamance-nc.com; terry.johnson@alamance-nc.com

Chairman Larry W. Sharpe
Vice-Chairman Dan Ingle
William H. Lashley
Tim D. Sutton
Ann Vaughan
Sheriff Terry Johnson

Dear Alamance County Board Of Commissioners, and Sheriff Johnson

"Valued members of our community have been arrested, crime victims have been deported and children have been mistreated in the process.

What a bunch of hooey!!!