Thread: N.C. - Mayor condemns ICE raids that reportedly have detained 6 people in Orange Coun

Mayor condemns ICE raids that reportedly have detained 6 people in Orange County

BY TAMMY GRUBB AND COLIN WARREN-HICKS


April 12, 2018 09:27 AM


CARRBORO
Immigration officials picked up two Carrboro residents and at least four others in Orange County this week.

Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle issued a statement Thursday morning confirming the Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and reassuring residents the Carrboro Police Department was not involved.

"As our Police Chief Walter Horton stated last year," she said, " 'Immigration status has never been a concern or priority to the Carrboro Police Department. We are here to serve all community members.'."

On its Facebook page, El Centro Hispano said it has confirmed three ICE raids in Orange County: one in Carrboro, one in Chapel Hill and one in Hillsborough. These raids resulted in six people being arrested and currently detained, the agency said.

"We have received other incident reports, which we are working on verifying and identifying anyone who might need help," the post continued.

The town of Carrboro is working with El Centro Hispano officials and other community partners to contact the family members of those who have been detained and make sure they have legal representation, Lavelle said.

The town also has been in contact with the other governments about what happened, Lavelle said. Nearly 17 percent of Carrboro residents were born outside the United States, according to U.S. Census estimates, and the "Carrboro Board of Aldermen firmly believes that immigrants are an integral part of our community and should be welcomed and supported," she said.

"Finally, on a personal note, I cannot adequately express how frightening this news must be for our neighbors who live in constant fear that these actions may happen on any given day in our town," Lavelle said. "My heart hurts for our community. I look forward to a future when we live in a nation where all people are treated with compassion and respect, regardless of their immigration status."

The N.C. Dream Coalition issued a warning Wednesday about the raids, saying they were targeting Hispanic communities at Collins Crossing in Carrboro, and at mobile home parks on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and the Pinegate and Ephesus Church Road apartment complexes in Chapel Hill.

The group advised "people that they shouldn’t open the door for any officers, they need to ask for search warrants or removal/arrest warrants to be passed to them under their doors and verify information AND signatures on these documents with their information on them."

Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood said he heard about the Chapel Hill raids from an officer. ICE didn't contact them, he said, because the federal agency "is not real happy with us."

ICE spokesman Bryan Cox confirmed that ICE does not always alert local law enforcement before making their own arrests.

"Not necessarily," Cox said. "In jurisdictions that cooperate with ICE we work with local jurisdictions to the extent permissible in accordance with relevant law and policy.

You’ll need to ask local jurisdictions about their policies as I cannot speak for them," Cox added.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office doesn't honor ICE detainers, which are not signed by a judge, and thus are a request and not an order, he said. Immigration enforcement also is not a priority for the Carrboro and Chapel Hill police departments.

“Unless you have an order to commit someone to the jail and hold them, you legally can’t do it,” Blackwood said. “Doing so would place the county and me in jeopardy of violating their civil rights and create a lawsuit, which is not what we want to do.”

If someone arrested on local, state or federal charges is able to pay their bail before ICE shows up, they can go free, he said. That’s rare for suspects facing more serious charges, such as murder, he added.

ICE officials “say it’s problematic for them,” Blackwood said. “Their position then is the sheriff doesn’t want to play, so we’ll just do what we’re going to do and not tell them, so we don’t get a call when they come to the county.”

Ice spokesman Cox said his agency does not conduct random or indiscriminate arrests. “ICE only conducts targeted immigration enforcement in compliance with federal law and agency,” Cox stated.

“ICE makes arrests every day in accordance with its routine, ongoing targeted enforcement,” he said. “ICE does not conduct checkpoints nor sweeps or raids that target aliens indiscriminately.”

However, Cox added, if in the process of making a targeted arrest — of a specific individual at a specific address — ICE officials come into contact with other people living in the country without legal permission “we will arrest them too,” he said. “We are not going to turn a blind eye.”

Cox said ICE employs less than 20,000 employees nationwide and given the generally accepted estimate that there are approximately 11 million people living in the U.S. without legal permission, ICE attempts to maximize its available, "finite" resources.

What's next

El Centro Hispano will host a "know your rights " session during its Faith ID event at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, April 14, at the Carrboro Century Center, 100 N. Greensboro St. Elected officials also will be there to answer questions.

Mayor's statement

It has come to our attention that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have been operating in Orange County over the past two days. We believe they have detained at least two Carrboro residents and at least four other county residents.

First, I want to make clear to the community that the Carrboro Police Department was not involved in these actions. As our Police Chief Walter Horton stated last year, “Immigration status has never been a concern or priority to the Carrboro Police Department. We are here to serve all community members.”

Since learning of ICE’s actions, Town officials have been working with representatives of El Centro Hispano and other community partners to contact the family members of the detainees and to ensure that they have adequate legal representation.

Approximately one in five Carrboro residents were born outside the United States. The Carrboro Board of Aldermen firmly believes that immigrants are an integral part of our community and should be welcomed and supported. For many years, we have advocated for comprehensive, compassionate immigration reform. It is essential that all residents of Carrboro feel safe and secure, regardless of their national origin or immigration status, and that they receive due process and legal representation.

We will continue to cooperate with our colleagues in Orange County, Chapel Hill, and Hillsborough to keep the community informed about this week’s incidents. We also will continue to support the work of our community partners to educate residents about their rights, and to offer information and resources for residents who need assistance.

Finally, on a personal note, I cannot adequately express how frightening this news must be for our neighbors who live in constant fear that these actions may happen on any given day in our town. My heart hurts for our community. I look forward to a future when we live in a nation where all people are treated with compassion and respect, regardless of their immigration status.

— Mayor Lydia E. Lavelle

http://www.heraldsun.com/news/local/...208671794.html

Orange County is the most liberal and socialist packed county in NC. I respectfully ask that the rest of America not judge us by the actions of the moonbats of Carborro.

We need a "know your rights" session for American citizens!

We want them all deported!

REPORT ALL EMPLOYERS AND ILLEGAL ALIENS TO ICE!

Asheville a Clear Example of “Sanctuary City” in NC

By Matt Caulder @nccapconn · On July 16, 2015
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This story has been updated to reflect the discovery of two more “sanctuary cities” in North Carolina.

In the wake of the murder of Kathryn Steinle, allegedly by an illegal immigrant, a furor has erupted over so-called “sanctuary cities” where illegals are shielded from federal immigration authorities.

Here at NC Capitol Connection, we have been looking at what that means in North Carolina. It turns out to be a complex situation, but so far one conclusion seems fairly clear: Asheville’s policies make it the state’s clearest example of a sanctuary city.

The alleged shooter in the Steinle murder, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, is a Mexican national who was released by authorities in San Francisco earlier this year before allegedly shooting the 32-year-old Steinle in the back on a pier in that city.

Here in North Carolina there are at least five “sanctuary cities” – Asheville, Charlotte, Durham, Chapel Hill and Carrboro – that have passed resolutions outlining municipal policies about immigration violations.

Most immigration violations civil, not criminal

Immigration violations are generally not criminal offenses, but civil ones, which means that deportation is a civil procedure, not a punitive one.

The decision that deportation procedures are not punishment reaches back to an 1893 court decision in Fong Yue Ting v. United States.

In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an order of deportation is not punishment for a crime, but merely a tool to bring someone in the country illegally back into compliance with the law.
Because immigration violations are civil and not criminal, illegal immigrants are not afforded the same due process rights of the criminally accused, including a trial by jury.

The exception is for illegal immigrants who have committed felonies and been deported; their presence in the country is a criminal offense, authorities say.

Asheville ordinance is the most stringent

The Asheville City Council, in 2013, unanimously passed a “Civil Liberties Resolution” that outlines policies in reference to dealing with illegal immigrants, or those suspected of being illegal aliens.
Under the policy, “The City of Asheville opposes any efforts to transfer federal immigration responsibility to state and local officials, since these proposals tax our already overburdened police department and damage relationships with immigrant communities.”

The policy went on to describe the city’s desire to “play a leading role in the protection of civil liberties and to consistently promote tolerance and respect for all persons.”

The resolution clarifies that the city rejects “profiling of any group” or setting up check points or selecting certain areas of town for investigation based on any kind of profiling.

The policy goes into detail in regards to drivers without licenses, a common issue in debates over illegal immigration.

The policy states, “In accordance with Asheville Police Department policy, if officers stop a driver of a motor vehicle who cannot produce a valid operator’s license and a computer check show the driver has no license issuance information, a citation is sufficient enforcement action.”

The resolution goes as far to explicitly state the city does not actively participate in the enforcement of federal immigration law.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police policy opposes inquiry into legal status

A directive in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department outlines the law enforcement agency’s stance on immigration issues.

The policy says that, “CMPD will not undertake immigration related investigations and will not inquire into the immigration status of persons encountered during police operations.”

The policy however does leave room for police officials to investigate the immigration status of suspected gang affiliates.

Chapel Hill votes not to detain illegal immigrants

The town of Chapel Hill passed a resolution saying local police will not take illegal immigrants into custody based solely on their status as an illegal.

Carrboro has a similar policy, as discussed below.

Policies like Chapel Hill’s and Carrboro’s do leave room for illegal immigrants who are felons to be arrested, according to Lt. Josh Mecimore with the Chapel Hill Police Department.

Under the town’s policy, those with felony deportation orders would be taken into custody for federal immigration authorities. Those with civil violations only, and who do not have felony criminal records, would be released.

Mecimore said this is because state law enforcement agencies do not have the legal authority to enforce a civil immigration order; they only have the authority, and duty, to enforce domestic civil orders under state law.

“If a person is a previously deported felon, we would hold them for immigration,” Mecimore said.
He said that they would run a National Criminal Information Center (NCIC) check on the person, the same as anyone else taken into custody, and if that report came back listing the person as a felon, officers would contact immigration authorities to come pick the alien up.

“A lot of people don’t understand that the role of law enforcement is criminal enforcement,” he said.
Both Chapel Hill’s and Carrboro’s policies specify civil immigration violations, while Durham’s policy stops city employees, including police officers, from investigating immigration status.

Durham employees not to investigate immigration status, request documentation

In 2003, Durham passed a resolution saying that the city supported the rights of all persons, regardless of their immigration status.

The resolution, which outlines the city policy but does not make statutory changes, said, “Durham has been a city that traditionally is open to and inclusive of all individuals and respects the rights of and provides equal services to all individuals, regardless of race, ethnicity, or immigration status.”
The resolution recognizes the Durham Police Department’s policy of not requesting documents for the sole purpose of determining a person’s civil immigration status and expands that policy to the rest of the municipal government.

The policy says, “Unless otherwise required as part of a City officer or employee’s duties, by law, or by court order, no Durham City officer or employee, during the course and scope of their employment, shall inquire into the immigration status of any person, or engage in activities designed to ascertain the immigration status of any person.”

Durham Police follow the 2003 policy, a Durham Police Department representative said.

Carrboro town policy is not to detain illegal immigrants

In 2006, the town of Carrboro passed a resolution saying that the Carrboro Police Department will not seek to arrest a suspect based on possible civil immigration violations.

The resolution passed unanimously May 16, 2006 with no voting town members absent.

Under the resolution, “it shall be the policy of the Carrboro Police Department not to arrest or to take into custody persons when the sole basis for arresting or taking such persons into custody is that they have or may have committee a civil immigration violation.”

http://nccapitolconnection.com/2015/...orth-carolina/

Carrboro mayor: 'My heart hurts' after 6 detained in Orange County ICE raids

Posted 12:11 p.m. today
Updated 27 minutes ago



By Sarah Krueger, WRAL reporter

The mayor of Carrboro issued a statement Thursday morning, expressing concerns about recent ICE raids that she said took place across Orange County.

According to Mayor Lydia Lavelle, at least six people have been detained in the county in the past two days. ICE representatives say the raids are routine operations and the organization prioritizes detaining those who pose a security threat to their communities.

According to Lavelle, who posted on the Town of Carrboro’s Facebook page Thursday morning, at least two town residents have been detained in the last two days and at least four others have been detained in the county.

• The Latest: US Homeland Security chief postpones border trip

Members of El Centro Hispano, a Latino advocacy group, say 10 people have been detained from apartment complexes in Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro. The organization said all those detained were men and the youngest person taken into custody was 18.

In the case of the 18-year-old, a family advocate said the high school student was simply helping ICE translate so another family member could understand. When it was discovered that he was undocumented, he was arrested too, the advocate said.


Members of the Carrboro Police Department were not involved in the arrests, Lavelle said.

• 2 Triangle teens worry about how DACA changes will impact their future

“The Carrboro Board of Aldermen firmly believes that immigrants are in integral part of our community and should be welcomed and supported,” Lavelle wrote. “For many years, we have advocated for comprehensive, compassionate immigration reform.”

An ICE spokesman could not confirm the number of arrests in Orange County, but said that fewer than 15 people have been arrested across the Triangle since Sunday.

Lavelle said town officials are working with a local nonprofit and community partners to provide support to the family members of those who were detained. Roughly 1 out of 5 Carrboro residents were born outside the United States, according to Lavelle.

“My heart hurts for our community. I look forward to a future when we live in a nation where all people are treated with compassion and respect, regardless of their immigration,” wrote Lavelle, who also said immigrants are an integral part of the community.

• Cary church fighting to stop deportation of member with 'life-threatening' medical condition


An El Centro spokesman said many of the men detailed leave behind wives and children.

They're working with the families to provide mental health services and legal services.

"These are all working men. Most of them were taken either at work, when they got back from work or on the way back to work," said Eliazar Posada with El Centro Hispano. "The youngest one we've been able to identify is 18 years old. The oldest is in his 30s."

An ICE spokesman said that the organization does not randomly arrest people, but instead conducts targeted enforcement.

“ICE makes arrests every day in accordance with its routine, ongoing targeted enforcement. ICE only conducts targeted immigration enforcement in compliance with federal law and agency policy. ICE does not conduct checkpoint sweeps or raids that target aliens indiscriminately,” spokesman Bryan Cox said in an email to WRAL News.

Cox said priority cases include convicted criminals, gang members and what he called egregious immigration law violators, such as people who have been deported in the past.

Advocates at El Centro HIspano say those conditions do not apply to any of the men detained this week. The organization is now planning a fundraiser to help cover legal fees.

According to statistics released by ICE, 92 percent of all immigrants arrested by the organization in 2017 had either a criminal conviction, a pending criminal charge or were already subject to a removal order.

Last year, ICE officers with the Atlanta field office, which covers Georgia and the Carolinas, made 13,551 arrests, 9,111 of which involved a convicted criminal.

http://www.wral.com/carrboro-mayor-m...aids/17482146/

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Carrboro mayor: 'My heart hurts' after 6 detained in Orange County ICE raids

Does your "heart' hurt for all the North Carolina U.S. citizens that have been killed, raped, robbed, etc. by illegal aliens over the last decade? Hmm, probably not! Actually, I'm betting you've never even given that a second thought.