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Immigration Problems In North Carolina
Sherrie Evans
WNCT Channel 9
Monday, April 10, 2006



North Carolina doesn't even have an immigration office. This means the state doesn't have the tools to deport illegal aliens. However, when it comes to the number of illegal aliens, our state ranks eighth. While every other state in the top 10 has immigration courts -- ours doesn't. When illegals are caught, local agencies have no choice but to release them back onto the streets. Nine on your side's Sherrie Evans wants to know why the state isn't doing more. There are three federal offices that handle immigration issues in North Carolina; they're in Wilmington, Charlotte, and Raleigh. And according to Raleigh's immigration and customs enforcement office, or ice, the state has Mo authority to handle all of the problems.
"We called the attorney general's office and they couldn't even give us a number regarding immigration services. And when we called Governor's Easley's Office, they gave us a number to the Federal ICE office in Charlotte." Some say the federal government is to blame.

Sheriff Jim Pendergraph in Mecklenburg County says "I don't think they're helping us at all. Let me make this clear, it's not the local ice agents, they're as frustrated as anyone about the resources they have to work with." But that hasn't stopped Charlotte from getting involved to help make sure their citizens are legal. Pendergraph says the local ice agency is helping them launch a program where officers have the authority to site someone for deportation, ICE will then remove them immediately. They say this is one step a county can take on a local level to help solve a much bigger problem. Representative Sue Myrick is leading the fight for an immigration court in North Carolina. Right now the closest immigration court is in Atlanta, Georgia.