Thread: N.C.: Only illegals who commit crimes reported to immigratio

Only illegals who commit crimes reported to immigration agency

By DIANA MAZZELLA
Staff Writer

Friday, September 07, 2007

Immigrants in the Albemarle illegally are not likely to be reported to immigration agencies unless they are suspected of committing crimes, area sheriffs say.

One reason, the law enforcement officials say, is the simple fact that there aren't as many illegal immigrants in the Albemarle as there are in more metropolitan areas.

But another reason is that the federal agency responsible for identifying, processing and deporting illegal aliens — U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement — just isn't responsive when sheriff offices call.

"Good luck," Perquimans Sheriff Eric Tilley says, commenting on his own difficulty getting ICE to process undocumented immigrants. He said he gets an answering machine when he calls the federal office.

Because of the feds' unresponsiveness and his own limited manpower, Tilley investigates a person's legal status only if the person has been taken into custody.

"I can't put a full-time person doing nothing but intake for illegal immigrants," Tilley said.

Pasquotank County Sheriff Randy Cartwright said he thinks the lack of response from federal authorities is common across the state.

"We can't get immigration (officials) to come get one person," Cartwright said.

A 2006 study on North Carolina's Hispanic population by the Kenan Institute and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill estimates that about 45 percent of Hispanics in North Carolina are not legally authorized to live in the United States. Even so, a person's being in the state illegally doesn't seem to be enough to gain federal authorities' attention. In fact, it's been Cartwright's experience that ICE won't open a case file on an illegal alien if that person hasn't committed a crime, he said.

Camden County Sheriff Tony Perry said his office checks a person's legal status whenever a very serious crime is involved.

"We have not had a problem (with crimes by illegal immigrants) like some of these larger counties have," he said.

Chowan County Sheriff Dwayne Goodwin said his office also checks a person's status if they're involved in a crime. But any enforcement after that is up to federal authorities, he said.

"We report it, but after that it depends on immigration," Goodwin said.

Charles Crudup, police chief in Elizabeth City, said that while his office has not identified any illegal aliens, his department's policy is to report them.

"If we find out someone is here illegally, we normally contact immigration," Crudup said.

He said his office could investigate the legal status of people who are not in police custody, as well as those who are.

Though he believes residents are concerned about the issue, Crudup said he has not received complaints about illegal immigrants.

Richard Rocha, a spokesman in ICE's Charlotte office, said the agency responds whenever a public safety threat is involved.

"It is important to also note that we do prioritize our enforcement," he said.

Asked what specific cases would receive an ICE response, Rocha said, "It's all on a case by case basis." He did not elaborate.

He said ICE is looking to strengthen its relationship with law enforcement agencies across the state. To that end, he hopes area sheriffs will contact ICE's Charlotte office.

Currituck County Sheriff Susan Johnson said in July that her office does not check the legal status of every person it encounters. However, a new state law requires jail staffs to check the legal status of inmates confined on felony and impaired driving offenses, she said.

She said the Currituck Detention Center has begun implementing the checks to be ready for when the legislation is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1.

Under the new law, if the jails are unable to discover an inmate's legal status, they must investigate the inmate's status through a federal immigration check, which will alert the U.S. Department of Homeland Security if the person is not authorized to be in the country.

Maria Garcia, executive director of Northeastern Community Development Corp., heads an agency that serves as an area resource for Spanish-speaking people. She said it can be difficult to know when area law enforcement will report undocumented immigrants.

"It's not always clear what their policy on immigration issues are," she said.

Garcia said local Hispanic immigrants will often not report crimes to authorities as they should, sometimes out of a fear of deportation or because they don't trust police.

She said Mexican immigrants in particular are accustomed to a corrupt police force, so they may be likely to avoid any police entanglements.

While she does not say that local authorities engage in racial profiling, she hopes they will avoid thinking of Hispanics and Latinos as all being illegal or all being from Mexico.

For his part, Chowan Sheriff Goodwin says he believes most people from other countries are here legally.

According to the Kenan study, most Hispanics who have moved to North Carolina from abroad are from Mexico.

Garcia said she hopes local authorities can understand that immigrants come from different backgrounds than authorities may be used to. For example, Mexico does not have a speed limit and drinking while driving is not illegal there, she said.

According to U.S. Census data, the percentage of people of Hispanic or Latino origin in Pasquotank County has grown from 1.2 percent in 2000 to 1.8 percent in 2005.

With the local Hispanic population growing, as Cartwright says "by leaps and bounds," communication — or the lack of it — can become an issue. To ensure that it doesn't, Cartwright said his office now employs several Spanish-speaking officers and shares interpreters with the Elizabeth City Police Department.

Goodwin said he has deputies who can speak enough Spanish to work a traffic stop. Garcia said law enforcement has contacted her office to provide translation services.

She understands how hard it may be for law enforcement to have staffs that speak Spanish and English.

"It is extremely difficult to recruit bilingual people," she said.

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Does anyone know... can we do a class action lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and ICE