Sheriff's Office's 287 (g) program receives good marks

January 14, 2012 2:42 PM
Chris Lavender / Times-News

GRAHAM — The 287(g) program receives routine inspections by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to ensure everything is done correctly at the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office.

The most recent inspection was conducted by a four-member ICE team in early December. ICE public information officer Vincent Picard said on Friday that the inspection’s audit report hadn’t been finalized but would be available to the public once it’s completed. But a preliminary report about the visit compiled by the Chief Deputy Tim Britt indicates no major areas of concern by inspectors.

Picard said the sheriff’s office is inspected multiple times a year by ICE agents. The sheriff’s department implemented the 287(g) program in 2007 in partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The program trains and authorizes local law enforcement and jailers as federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The program is under federal control.

The ICE inspections team that visited Alamance County in December included agents Rachel Diamond, Brandon Steifer, Kurt Jeffreys and Jorge Lopez. Lopez participated in a post inspection interview with Britt on Dec. 8.

Britt sent an email to County Manager Craig Honeycutt, Sheriff Terry Johnson, County Attorney Clyde Albright and Alamance County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Randy Jones after the post inspection interview to share some of Lopez’s observations about the inspection visit.

Britt said in the email that the county had exceeded the 287(g)’s requirements based on the memorandum of agreement and that the inspections team had found no inconsistencies or areas of concern.

“The inspection team found this office to be forward thinking and a model program and that the inspection team plans to carry our best practices up the chain for possible implementation to other agencies,” Britt’s email stated.

During the two-day inspection, the team interviewed detainees, reviewed files and conducted community and judicial interviews.

Jones said Thursday that the sheriff’s office was prohibited from commenting on the inspection team’s work. Picard also said no comment could be made about the specifics of the inspection while the audit was still being completed.

A high percentage of undocumented immigrants living in Alamance County who are assigned to appear in federal immigration court after they are arrested for a criminal violation, but not detained, fail to appear in court, the sheriff’s office has said.

Johnson said last week during an Alamance County Board of Commissioners meeting that many undocumented immigrants give false names and addresses to authorities when they are arrested, making it more difficult for law enforcement to process their cases.

When undocumented immigrants commit a crime, they can be processed two ways. The first processing method involves having an immigration detainer placed on the offender and having him held in jail until any state charges are dealt with. Then the offender is sent to federal immigration court, where processing takes place.

An immigration detainer is a tool used by federal officials to identify potentially deportable individuals who are housed in jails. The detainer requests that local law enforcement notify federal officials before a suspected undocumented immigrant is released so federal officials can take over custody.

A second processing method involves allowing the offender to leave jail on his or her own recognizance with no detainer and setting a court date for appearance in federal immigration court. If the offender fails to appear in court, then his or her name is listed in the national crime information center, where it can be retrieved by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers who will attempt to apprehend the individual.

Commissioner Tim Sutton said last week he believes that the county had deemphasized the 287 (g) program since it was implemented in 2007 because the number of ICE inmates held at the Alamance County jail has decreased. Johnson said that the number of ICE inmates held in jails nationwide has decreased, matching local trends.

It costs about $4 million in federal funds to run 287 (g) and between $1.8 to $2 million is unused and placed in the county’s general fund annually, the sheriff’s office says. Johnson is currently negotiating with ICE officials to expand the county’s reach into eastern North Carolina, allowing six deputies to transport ICE inmates from Neuse Correctional Institution in Goldsboro to the Alamance County jail. The sheriff’s office would be reimbursed for travel expenses.

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