Thread: Dole Wants to Help NC Sheriffs Enforce Fed Immigration Law

Dole Wants to Help North Carolina Sheriffs Enforce Federal Immigration Laws

Posted: Today at 11:47 a.m.
http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/1738854/

RALEIGH, N.C. — Sen. Elizabeth Dole said she wants to help North Carolina counties deal with illegal immigration, suggesting that federal money could help sheriffs participate in a program that allows them to enforce immigration laws.

"Illegal aliens have committed crimes, often over and over and over again, and what can we do?" Dole asked Thursday during a meeting with sheriffs in Raleigh. "We need to stop the catch and release."

Dole, R-North Carolina, has been touring the state to meet with sheriffs and discuss how illegal immigration affects local law enforcement.

A program established in 1996 allows sheriffs to be trained to enforce federal immigration law, but some sheriffs said handling federal law would divert deputies from other tasks. But they said the program was needed to help keep their jails clear.

Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison said up to 15 percent of the inmates in the county jail might be illegal immigrants. In Mecklenburg County, the sheriff has proposed building a separate, 1,500-bed detention facility for detained immigrants.

Mecklenburg County is involved in the program that trains deputies to work with federal officials to enforce immigration laws, while county commissioners elsewhere in North Carolina have adopted policies to halt funding for services used by illegal residents that aren't mandated by the federal government.

An estimated 400,000 illegal immigrants work on farms, construction sites, meatpacking plants and in hotels and restaurants in North Carolina.

Dole helped defeat a bill in Congress to give illegal immigrants a route to citizenship, saying voters told her they wanted the border sealed and the law enforced.

Some advocates for immigrants said the law Dole promotes gives sheriffs a financial reason to jail people because they are paid for the nights a federal prisoner is held. The advocates also said the law promotes profiling.

"As an immigrant, you never know driving from one county to the next what your rights are," said Marisol Jimenez McGee, advocacy director for El Pueblo, a statewide Hispanic group.

This report was on Lou Dobbs earlier this evening. I don't know why , but I just don't trust the Dole's even though I have nothing to back it up. I guess it is because they go way back .

Senator Dole was strong against the Bush/Kennedy amnesty bill, and she has excellent grades from NumbersUSA -- so she's doing a fine job in my book:

http://grades.betterimmigration.com/tes ... VIPID=1078

She does have a good immigration voting record. I agree with that. I just know that some of these New World Order politicians are hidden everywhere in our government (and at every level of government). Just keep our eyes open, for not all of them will be as obvious as Kennedy and McCain.

I don't know why , but I just don't trust the Dole's even though I have nothing to back it up. I guess it is because they go way back .

She's been very strong against amnesty.

Anyone know if she's meeting with ALL North Carolina Sheriff's? Or just those who might express an interest in 287g?

Posted on Sat, Aug. 25, 2007

Dole takes lead on immigration
Senator backs sheriffs' enforcement program of federal laws
By Kristin Collins - McClatchy Newspapers
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/l ... 68409.html

RALEIGH, N.C. --Flanked by sheriffs from nine counties, Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole said Thursday she wants to help "weed out" the illegal immigrants who are filling N.C. jails.

"Illegal aliens have committed crimes, often over and over and over again, and what can we do?" Dole said. "We need to stop the catch and release." Dole was in town as part of a two-week statewide tour focusing on illegal immigration and its burden on law enforcement agencies.

After a Thursday meeting with sheriffs from Wake, Johnston and several other central N.C. counties, she said she would seek more federal funding to help counties eager to participate in a program that allows them to enforce federal immigration laws.

The program, established under a 1996 law that for years went unnoticed, is gaining popularity as sheriffs grow frustrated with understaffed Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices.

Where the federal agency had once exclusively enforced immigration laws, sheriffs can now get involved if they go through a training program.

Once trained, they can check the immigration status of criminal suspects and begin deportation proceedings.

Several sheriffs at Thursday's meeting said they haven't signed up for the program because it would cost them too much manpower.

But they all said it was needed. They complained of jails overflowing with people they suspect of being illegal immigrants.

Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison said 10 percent to 15 percent of his inmates are immigrants who may be illegally in the country. In many cases, Harrison said, foreign suspects give false names that cannot be tracked.

"Robbery, rape, drunk driving - you name the crime, it's happening," said Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell, who is also president of the N.C. Sheriffs Association. "We've got illegal aliens jumping and running from crimes, killing our families."

Dole said she would take their message back to Washington. The senator from Salisbury, who is up for re-election in 2008, is increasingly staking her political future on the immigration issue.

North Carolina has one of the nation's fastest-growing Hispanic populations, about half of which is undocumented.

An estimated 400,000 illegal immigrants harvest crops, build houses, staff meatpacking plants and clean and cook for the state's bustling tourism industry.

Their increasing presence has stoked intense debate in communities across the state.

Dole was a key player in defeating federal legislation this year that would have granted illegal immigrants a path to U.S. citizenship. She called the bill "amnesty" and was one of a small group of Republican activists who vowed to kill it.

On Thursday, Dole said she is now trying to focus on what voters have told her they want: sealing the border and enforcing existing immigration laws. She said helping sheriffs deport criminals is an important part of her efforts. "Let's go with what's urgent, with what has consensus," she said.

Immigrant advocates have criticized the law enforcement program Dole promotes. They say it encourages profiling and gives sheriffs a financial incentive to imprison immigrants. Under the program, the federal government pays local jails for each night that an immigration suspect is held.

Some say the federal government needs to provide a consistent approach to dealing with illegal immigrants, instead of encouraging a patchwork of local enforcement efforts.

"As an immigrant, you never know driving from one county to the next what your rights are," said Marisol Jimenez McGee, advocacy director for the statewide Latino group El Pueblo.

Jimenez McGee said Dole is trying to win votes at the expense of dealing with what advocates argue is the real problem: the United States' need for legal foreign workers. El Pueblo favors reform that would allow undocumented immigrants to stay in the United States legally.

"She's reading polls and listening to small groups of people who are really loud about immigration, and not being willing to look at a real sustainable solution," Jimenez McGee said.

Political experts, however, say that Dole is smart to focus on illegal immigration.

Carter Wrenn, a veteran GOP consultant who has managed several high-profile campaigns, said polls show that a clear majority of Americans - across political parties - oppose illegal immigration and any legislation that would allow illegal border crossers to go unpunished.

"Here you've got an issue that people feel strongly about, and most of them are on one side," Wrenn said. "That's a pretty good issue for her to talk about."

Activists who oppose illegal immigration have begun to see Dole as a strong leader for the cause.

Americans for Better Immigration, a national group that pushes for tighter limits on immigration, grades each member of Congress on their immigration record.

Dole scored an A.

"In North Carolina, illegal immigration and the impact it's having is being felt very strongly," said state Rep. Joe Boylan, a Pinehurst Republican who wants to limit illegal immigrants' access to drivers licenses and public services in North Carolina.

"I think Senator Dole, and Republicans all across the board, are listening to what people are saying."
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VIDEO: Dole on 287(g)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KFtQRiUtUI

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OK Senator, we need action. What are you going to do? Its great to go on a tour and talk. Yes, Dole did vote the right way most of the time. Let her go to the whitehouse and get DHS to free up some money for the 287(g) program for every NC county that wants it today. And, by the way, get ICE to free up the backlog; it takes too damn long to get the program rolling. Maybe we are asking for too much...

Originally Posted by usatime

OK Senator, we need action. What are you going to do? Its great to go on a tour and talk. Yes, Dole did vote the right way most of the time. Let her go to the whitehouse and get DHS to free up some money for the 287(g) program for every NC county that wants it today. And, by the way, get ICE to free up the backlog; it takes too damn long to get the program rolling. Maybe we are asking for too much...

Dole was instrumental and the sponsor of the bill that got $4 million released for the 287(g) program just before the Congressional recess.

Thanks Zeezil. Do you have a link to that info. Missed it in my local paper :>. Now will our president actually use the money for the program? Sorry to be sceptical, but we are in year 5 of Senator Dole and we are drowning in illegal aliens out here. Everyone says its the federal governments fault. Well, Dole is the federal government.