Thread: NC- Sen. Foriest criticize GOP ad centering on 287 (g)

Sen. Foriest, Democrats criticize GOP candidate ad centering on 287 (g) program
Comments 4 | Recommend 1
The state Democratic Party labels the ad by Republican Rick Gunn as misleading and "gutter tactics."
September 27, 2008 - 6:39PM
Barry Smith / Freedom Raleigh Bureau
GRAHAM - State Sen. Tony Foriest and the N.C. Democratic Party have taken issue with an ad aired by Foriest's GOP opponent in the Nov. 4 general election.

Foriest said that his opponent, Republican Rick Gunn, is misleading the public. The state Democratic Party says that Gunn's ad misrepresents Foriest's record on immigration to scare voters.

"The General Assembly has been supportive of what the sheriffs' association is wanting to do,'' Foriest said. "They're trying to make it sound like I was not.''

Gunn, however, stands by his ad and said he would have voted differently had he been in the Senate.

The 30-second ad shows a picture of Foriest along with the Legislative Building in Raleigh. It accuses Foriest of voting to cut funds for a program that allows sheriffs to deport illegal aliens and for voting to allow convicted illegal aliens out of prison early.

It features Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson, who is also a Republican. Johnson does not criticize Foriest in the ad. Johnson says that illegal aliens are hurting our economy. Johnson also says that he's supporting Gunn and that he would help fight illegal immigration in Raleigh.

The bill dealing with early release of illegal immigrants in North Carolina prisons allows the state to release nonviolent offenders to the federal Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation after they have served at least half of their sentence. It passed the Senate by a 47-0 vote and the House by a 103-2 vote.

Gunn said he would have voted against the bill.

"The punishment needs to fit the crime,'' Gunn said. "We need to send the message that we have laws in our state and in our county, that there are punishments for breaking those laws.''

Gunn also said he thought it was na¯ve to believe that a criminal, who initially entered the country illegally, won't re-enter after being deported.

The sponsor of the bill, Sen. Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, who described Gunn's ad as "patently untrue,'' said that the state Department of Correction could save a lot of money by deporting illegal immigrants once they've served half their sentence.

It costs the state between $25,000 and $30,000 a year to house a prisoner, Rand said. If 200 illegal immigrants in prison are deported, taxpayers would save at least $5 million a year, he said.

Gunn said that costs factors go both ways.

"There is a cost for not having people understanding our laws and thinking they can get out early,'' Gunn said.

Rand noted that all the Republicans in the Senate supported his bill because it was fiscally prudent.

The other issue in the ad, which accuses Foriest of cutting money for sheriffs' immigration deportation programs, concerns money appropriated to the N.C. Sheriffs' Association to help local sheriffs establish programs with ICE.

In 2007, when lawmakers adopted their two-year budget plan, they set aside $750,000 for the 2007-08 fiscal year. No money was originally put in the budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year.

This summer, when lawmakers returned to Raleigh to adjust the budget, the General Assembly put in a $600,000 line item for the program for the current fiscal year.

Much of the money is used to help local sheriff's offices establish what are called 287 (g) programs, in which local deputies work with federal ICE officials to turn over illegal immigrants who are arrested to the ICE officials.

Eddie Caldwell, executive vice president and general counsel for the N.C. Sheriffs' Association, said that the association wasn't complaining about the amount of money it received for the current fiscal year.

"We knew we weren't entitled to the second year,'' Caldwell said. "We certainly did not complain about the decision that they made.''

Caldwell said that the sheriffs' association had about $250,000 left over from the first year's funds and was able to carry it over to this year, giving the association about $850,000 to spend on immigration programs.

The money is used to help familiarize sheriffs with immigration programs and for helping them negotiate federal bureaucratic paperwork, Caldwell said. Some of the money also goes to help pay for replacement workers to cover shifts of deputies who attend four-week training programs related to immigration enforcement, he said.

Gunn said that he would like to see the state spend more money on the 287 (g) program so that it can be expanded to other counties.

"I certainly feel like we need to expand the program, not only here, but in sister counties and other counties throughout the state,'' Gunn said.

State Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek called the ad "gutter tactics'' and said that Foriest "has a clear record of working to provide $1.35 million to help sheriffs and improving channels by which illegal immigrants are transferred and then deported by federal authorities.''

Meek said that Foriest has also supported other efforts in the General Assembly to combat illegal immigration, such as fingerprinting and photographing people charged with DWI if they do not have a valid ID.

Gunn said the ad has run on a Greensboro and High Point television station, as well as a couple of cable networks since Tuesday. The ad, along with others by the campaign, are scheduled to run for the next four weeks, he said.

http://www.thetimesnews.com/articles/fo ... legal.html

So I gather North Carolina Sheriffs have in place the 287g program to check prisoners? Do the police check identities in road blocks? And do they call ICE on questionable identity of an individual?

Now if the North Carolina government will require all immigrants and I-9s be E-Verified in Local State Unemployment Office; we North Carolina Citizens might have jobs again.

Added to Home PAge
http://www.alipac.us/article3580.html

I urge anyone reading this to send a letter to the editor to the Burlington Times-News and support Rick Gunn and Sheriff Terry Johnson on this issue. The Democrats have already spent over $250,000 on tv buys in the final 3 weeks of this election to defeat Rick Gunn in his race against Tony Foriest in the 24th state senate district (Alamance and Caswell Counties). These are the same people who spent nearly $400,000 in 2006 to defeat then Senator Hugh Webster. We are fighting the deep pocket liberals in Raleigh and the liberal press and we need your help. To see the tv ad that has the liberals in a tizzy go to www.gunnforncsenate.com and let's show them how we feel about the illegal aliens issue. The address to send letters to the editor at the Times-News is madison_taylor@link.freedom.com. It's time to fight!

Welcome to Alipac america1st

are you Rick Gunn?

Welcome America1st

Welcome America1st!

Alipac is the place to be for news and information on how to be active. Let us know if you have any questions.

You guys are doing a great service for America. No Jimpasz I'm not Rick Gunn, however I have spent the last 14 years working for and supporting Hugh Webster and I saw what they did to him last election and I don't want to see the Raleigh liberals succeed again this election. Thanks for allowing me to post here and let's keep fighting the good fight.

i just got off the phone with some guy from the NAACP group in the area, and he said that the biggest problem was that he was singling out a specific race and ethnic background and that it was uncalled for.

i tried to explain that illegal is illegal and if you see hispanics with 5 kids and blacks with 1-2 kids then the sheriff was being honest and maybe too blunt,

when i tried to bring up the fact that these people, especially illegals are here illegally he didnt seem to have a problem with it but when i said these people are here working with stolrn or fraudulent IDs and taking jobs that black and white teens might have as summer jobs, he didnt seem to amused