Thread: Sheriff's office says it's working on ACLU request

Sheriff's office says it's working on ACLU request
Comments 18 | Recommend 2
March 28, 2009 - 2:10 PM
Robert Boyer / Times-News

Sheriff Terry Johnson is gathering "many hundreds" of documents in response to the ACLU of North Carolina's request for information related to the 287 (g) illegal immigration enforcement program, sheriff's spokesman Randy Jones says.

The compiling comes after the civil rights organization asked the Alamance County Sheriff's Department and other Tar Heel law agencies involved with 287 (g) in 12 other counties for a slew of documents.

ACLU Legal Director Katy Parker and others have alleged that Johnson and some other state agencies involved in the immigration law enforcement partnership are unfairly targeting Hispanics and going beyond the program's mandate to focus on illegal immigrants who commit felonies.

In a March 18 demand letter to County Attorney Clyde Albright, Parker said the Alamance sheriff's office has refused to honor most of the ACLU's information requests and added that the organization might seek legal action if the county continued to refuse.

"We're talking about a lawsuit based on the North Carolina public records act," Parker said Friday. "These public documents belong to the public. It shouldn't take the threat of a lawsuit to get them."

Jones said he and the sheriff want to make sure that any information sent to the ACLU doesn't violate privacy laws.

Albright said the ACLU will get at least some of the records requested.

"My question is, why do they want personal information on thousands of people?" Albright said Friday. "At the end of the day, they're going to get every public record to which they're legally entitled."

Jones said the sheriff has designated a room at the department to gather and review documents and is trying to determine what information can be released.

Parker was pleased to hear that the sheriff's office is working on the ACLU requests, but said it's "unfortunate" that the response came as the result of a threatened lawsuit.

"I would assume they would have already been gathering these documents before we threatened to sue them," Parker said. "I still haven't heard anything from them."

Albright, who is heading the process for the county, said he hasn't had a chance to thoroughly review the documents, but will probably do that next week when he meets with the sheriff. Work on the countywide revaluation and child support enforcement has taken up much of his time, Albright said.

The federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement has some of the requested information. The sheriff's office is consulting with federal officials for clarification on the ACLU requests they don't understand and to determine what they are allowed to release, Jones said. The sheriff's office isn't allowed to access Customs Enforcement databases at the jail or elsewhere and won't create documents or databases that don't already exist, the spokesman added.

"We're not really being hard to get along with," Jones said. "We're making sure everything is being done thoroughly."

Parker called Jones' points about redacting sensitive personal information and not creating new records "reasonable," but said many of the ACLU's requests to Alamance County are based on information gleaned from other counties with 287 (g) programs.

Other Tar Heel sheriffs have called to ask for more information about the requests and to let the ACLU know they might need more time to compile the documents, Parker added.

The ACLU, she said, would have no problem extending its April 3 deadline on getting information if Alamance County officials contacted them beforehand and said they were making a good-faith effort to provide information.

"If I haven't heard from them by next Friday, I'm going to feel like I don't have any choice but to go forward with legal action," Parker said.

http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/sherif ... _aclu.html

North Carolina require all of the workforce to use E-Verify of hired and new hires, immediately. This would solve many of North Carolina problems.

The ACLU, she said, would have no problem extending its April 3 deadline on getting information if Alamance County officials contacted them beforehand and said they were making a good-faith effort to provide information.

Please ACLU get the records of detentees in NC jails and prisons. But I want them listed in media and records of public information to tell the public if the prisoners are "on hold for ICE".

Furthermore, undocumented immigrants are breaking more laws if they drive without license and insurance. Crime does not pay, if you are caught.

get rid of the ACLU and that would get rid of another problem and a lot of headaches............

A=American
C=Culture
L=Lost
to the
U=Undocumented
I would say that was pretty close

My question is, why do they want personal information on thousands of people?" Albright said Friday. "At the end of the day, they're going to get every public record to which they're legally entitled."




That would be my question as well.

Hmmmm......in this day and age of such rampant identity theft, and the propensity of illegal aliens toward identity fraud, I would think this raises a very legitimate question as to why an organization which openly advocates for, and defends, criminals. would a.) want personal information and/or b) should be granted access to that information.

Perhaps the Sheriff should file a request himself.....one demanding that the ACLU show WHY they need this infromation and WHAT they do with it once they've gotten their hands on it.

And, if they don't comply with his request, there are always lawsuits which would compel them to do so

added to homepage

ACLU Harassing North Carolina Police That Enforce Immigration Laws!
http://www.alipac.us/article4086.html

If time affords, please follow the link and leave a comment.

What a bunch of CRAP!

The ACLU is an enemy of America's

In my opinion the legal status of detainees should be stated if not a US Citizens, with the words "On Hold For ICE" for public media and record.

"We're talking about a lawsuit based on the North Carolina public records act," Parker said Friday. "These public documents belong to the public. It shouldn't take the threat of a lawsuit to get them."

I think GA or AL tell the status of immigrant detainees.

Been having a difficult time getting signed in to the news article to leave a message. I did read the other messages and they were not pretty about Terry. Looked like some did not read the entire article about the time it takes to gather all the paperwork for the ACLU. Need to be more comments on there supporting the 287(g) and Terry.......

what gives the ACLU such authority to request, bully etc?