Hagan backs deporting jailed aliens
Candidate wants federal aid

By Mike Hixenbaugh
Rocky Mount Telegram

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

RALEIGH – Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kay Hagan says she supports a federal program that allows sheriffs to check the immigration status of their inmates and initiate the deportation process.

However, she told a group of seven North Carolina sheriffs, including Nash County Sheriff Dick Jenkins, Tuesday that she is concerned about how the program is being run.

The widely publicized 287(g) program trains local deputies to identify illegal immigrants after they commit a crime and then begin the deportation proceedings. Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, Hagan's general election opponent, has been a strong advocate of the program and has lobbied for more federal funding to expand it.

Hagan said at the roundtable discussion that, although she also supports the program, she has a number of concerns. Calling the program "yet another unfunded mandate" from Washington, D.C., Hagan said it's vital for the federal government to fully fund the initiative.

Otherwise, the program simply pushes the problems of illegal immigration to the state and county level, Hagan said.

After the 40-minute discussion with the sheriffs, Hagan also said it creates a "patchwork of uneven enforcement" when some counties have the program and others don't.

Nash County does not have the program, but Jenkins told Hagan he wishes his department could afford to implement it.

The problem, as Jenkins and Pitt County Sheriff Mac Manning stated it, is that sheriff's offices in small counties don't have the manpower to allow for the training.

"We have different-sized counties in this state," Jenkins said, sitting across the table from Mecklenburg County Sheriff Chipp Bailey. "What will work with one may not work for all of them. We have to come up with a format where it works for smaller counties and larger counties."

Mecklenburg County officials have reported great success utilizing the program in recent years.

Jenkins said Nash County, where six illegal immigrants were detained as of Tuesday morning, also would benefit from the program "if there was some work done so it would work for counties with a smaller staff."

Hagan agreed, adding that it seems counterproductive for only some counties to keep track of illegal immigrants.

In the end, Hagan said, the true solution is federal immigration reform that secures the borders while still providing employers with the required workforce.

"It's a Band-Aid solution to a problem," Hagan said of the 287(g) program. "We need an overall immigration policy that works. When I look at the whole immigration system in the United States, I think it's another example of what we've been seeing in Washington – that it's broken."

Hagan, who earlier was accused by Dole's campaign of opposing the 287(g) program, is attempting to make inroads among voters worried about illegal immigration. Voters who list immigration as a top issue favor Dole by large margins, according to most polls.

Sheriffs from Durham, Cumberland, Wilson and Hoke counties also participated in the immigration roundtable.

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