Thread: Maury TN: Immigration busts make sheriff a star

Monday, 07/09/07

Immigration busts make sheriff a star
But Maury's Latinos say he oversteps his authority

By COLBY SLEDGE
Staff Writer

COLUMBIA, Tenn. — He waves at everyone.

The man on the motorcycle gets a wave. The young auditor gets chitchat. The lady walking into the County Commission room receives a hug.

You get the feeling that Maury County Sheriff Enoch George knows every resident in Columbia, where on the Fourth of July folks place American flags on every downtown corner.

Thanks to recent raids, however, George and his friends have lately been waving goodbye to dozens of illegal immigrants, some who live — or lived — across the street from George's office.

In Sheriff George's town, there is no room for lawbreakers, he says.

The tough stance has caused his popularity to soar among those who are fed up with illegal immigration and glad to see law enforcement finally doing something about it.

But not everyone in Maury County loves George. Latino residents and their supporters say the sheriff is quietly taking it upon himself and his agency to do the job of federal authorities.

In the process, critics say, George is focusing undue police attention on the county's hard-working Latino community and terrorizing people through roundups.

George disagrees.

"My opinion of a roundup is a list of names that has been given to the Sheriff's Department," he said. "Whenever I do a roundup, I've rounded up individuals that are by name. In this case, these people are just coming out of the woodwork."

Commissioners back him

George has been in office for the past 13 years, and loves to talk about the service he's provided to the county where he was born and raised. There have been nights, he says, when he maybe should have been home on his farm with Phyllis, his wife of 41 years.

"She understands that this job is on a high-priority list in my life," he said.

At 59, he has an almost unnaturally full head of snow-white hair. His posture is so imposing that it's a wonder he didn't go through the police academy until he was 40 years old, after the chemical company where he worked closed down.

He served as a sheriff's deputy, a Columbia police officer and a county commissioner before winning his post in 1994. He has sued the County Commission — and won — after arguing that he didn't have enough officers.

He wears cowboy boots everywhere, including with the suit he's wearing to a Safety Committee meeting on a recent afternoon. At the meeting, he has a special announcement: 13 illegal immigrants have been arrested after his men went out with immigration officials looking for a Juan Villa, who is wanted in the rape of a 15-year-old girl.

Villa has not been found yet, George says, but the commissioners are still pleased. One asks for an "illegal" section on George's monthly reports. Another commissioner, Bob Farmer, says after the meeting that if it weren't for people like George, "we won't have a White House, we'll have a Brown House."

"The illegal people are walking over everyone," Commissioner Gerald Adkison says. "They shouldn't be here."

Some residents object

Meanwhile, five more people are being taken from their homes at American Mobile Village, a mobile home park just off the main drag. The arrests are the second wave of the day after sheriff's deputies and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials came by that morning searching for Villa.

After not finding him during their initial search, neighbors say, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials began asking the residency status of other inhabitants of the trailer. When they admitted to being in the country illegally, the officials arrested six people, all relatives of Villa.

"We went to another house where Immigration rang the doorbell, but we didn't answer," said Lino Castillo, 15, who said he waited with others before moving from trailer to trailer to avoid being detained. Some of his cousins were arrested, however, Castillo said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials then went to other trailers, picking up seven more people. George says the door-to-door searches came after residents pointed officers to various trailers, suggesting Villa might have been staying there.

Barbara Haskins and her neighbors at American Mobile Village see a different story. On a Tuesday in May, her fiancé, Luis Enrique Sanchez Castro, was arrested on his way to pick up co-workers when an investigation of a boy who took a gun to school resulted in the capture of 24 illegal immigrants.

Another sweep in June resulted in 22 detentions after federal agents went looking for a man convicted of selling cocaine in Columbia.

Now, after watching the morning's events, Haskins was fed up.

"They're not helping people," Haskins said. "They're putting them through hell."

'I love people,' he says

State Rep. Eddie Bass, D-Prospect, used to work closely with George when Bass was Giles County sheriff. He says they haven't kept up much, but he welcomes his friend's work.

"I don't think Enoch is saying, 'Let's go arrest illegals,' " Bass said. "But if he is, so be it. They're illegal."

Outside the Safety Committee meeting, many residents and local officials say the same: They don't have any problem with immigrants, as long as they come to the country legally.

"I don't think people are against aliens who are legal," County Mayor Jim Bailey said. "The very idea of being illegal in anything is what turns off people."

Area police chiefs say they haven't been asked to help the Sheriff's Department on such assignments, mainly because they, like the sheriff's deputies, don't have the power to arrest people merely for being in the country illegally.

Columbia Police Chief Barry Crotzer says he would help the Sheriff's Department, but concedes that the raids may be doing more harm than good among local Latinos.

"We don't want them to think we're waiting in the bushes," he said.

For his part, George says he's looking to apply for a federal program that allows local officers to check the immigration status of anyone booked into local jails and turn illegal immigrants over to federal authorities.

And he denies claims that he's racist, dismissing a recent meeting of Hispanic residents in which many said they felt afraid or targeted. He just does his job, he says, and lets his track record speak for itself.

"I'm just a person who cares about people. I love people," he said. "I can fool people for a few minutes, a few days, maybe even a few months, but you can't fool them for years."

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Sheriff George and his deputies truly deserve credit for a job well done! Tennesee can be very proud!

the first thing the hispanics say is he people are agianst them... Its just a way of hidding in those Bushes....Criminal is criminal...

He sounds like TN's answer to Arizona's Sheriff Joe Arpaio. I would ask what is the difference between them and other sheriffs. But I think the answer is self evident; they have the support and will of their local government and community.

You go, Sheriff George!!!!

Originally Posted by Nouveauxpoor

He sounds like TN's answer to Arizona's Sheriff Joe Arpaio. I would ask what is the difference between them and other sheriffs. But I think the answer is self evident; they have the support and will of their local government and community.

Oh!!! I would LOVE to see Sheriff Joe and his deputies start going door to door!!

Why do I have the feeling that day won't be far off? He's stocking up on manpower

I wished we had a Sheriff in CA. with (what squirrels eat) like Sheriff George.

13 illegal immigrants have been arrested after his men went out with immigration officials looking for a Juan Villa, who is wanted in the rape of a 15-year-old girl.

And this is the kind of people that "open border" supporters want to give amnesty to.

Every town should have a sheriff like this, he doesn't seem to worried about being sued.

I'd love to comment but I'm tired of registering to do it.

Ya, lets start a Arpaio and George society. WE need more Sheriffs like that who take their jobs seriously.