Thread: N.C.: Orange won't play immigration role

http://www.newsobserver.com/161/story/536390.html

Orange won't play immigration role
Jan 26, 2007

Patrick Winn, Staff Writer
HILLSBOROUGH - Orange County and its Sheriff's Office have officially taken a hands-off approach to immigration enforcement.
A resolution adopted Tuesday by the Orange County Board of Commissioners essentially tells law enforcement this:

Don't actively look to detain illegal immigrants who haven't committed other offenses.

It's a tack already adopted by police in Chapel Hill and Carrboro.

"I want Orange County to be the kind of county people feel safe in," said Commissioner Mike Nelson. "All laws should be enforced, but we are not the enforcement agency responsible for immigration."

The commissioners' resolution opposes agreements with the Department of Homeland Security that authorize local law enforcement officers to interrogate and process illegal immigrants. Sheriffs in Mecklenburg, Buncombe and Alamance counties have already signed on.

Orange County's position, drafted by its Human Rights and Relations Department, is that doing that promotes racial profiling and weakens minorities' trust in police.

"Undocumented immigrants are not just black, brown or yellow," said Milan Pham, director of the county's human rights department. "How will you know who's documented unless you ask everybody?"

Orange County Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass is comfortable with the county's direction, he said.

"We've got enough to do in Orange County protecting people and their property," he said. "I'm not interested in any task force-type initiative. You know, 'Let me see your green card.' "

Still, the county's four law enforcement agencies vary slightly in their approach to reporting illegal immigrants.

* The Sheriff's Office will report any immigration offender who commits a crime, Pendergrass said. "If immigration wants to come pick them up after we charge them, that's fine," he said.

* Chapel Hill police will report offenders to Immigration and Customs Enforcement only if they discover a detainment order during normal police work, as occurred last month when Iranian-born illegal immigrant Sima Fallahi applied for a door-to-door vendor's license. Fallahi, who had lived in Carrboro for years, is now being held in the Mecklenburg County jail and may be deported.

Homeland Security distinguishes between "civil" offenders, people who sneak in or overstay visas, as Fallahi did, and "criminal" offenders, those charged with domestic security crimes such as smuggling or forging passports.

* Like the other agencies, the Carrboro police have pledged to report offenders with criminal status. But under the town's direction, it will ignore civil detainment orders.

* Hillsborough Police Chief Clarence Birkhead has been out of town and said he would respond to the resolution after reviewing it.

Cooperating with ICE has been a blessing in neighboring Alamance County, said Randy Jones, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office there. "Orange County is making a grave mistake," Jones said. "They've got their head in the sand."

About 70 percent of the people charged by Alamance deputies with drug trafficking turn out to be illegal immigrants, Jones said. Everyone the deputies arrest is run through a Homeland Security database and detained if necessary.

"I don't know how detaining someone for committing a crime is not the job of law enforcement," he said.

Orange County's position, drafted by its Human Rights and Relations Department, is that doing that promotes racial profiling and weakens minorities' trust in police.

The only people that should have a "trust" issue with the police are the ones guilty of a crime.

Easy for Orange Co/Chapel Hill to adopt such a policy. The cost of living and house prices in this area is higher and the number of illegals living among the very well-off citizens is likely to be fewer than in other areas of NC.

Yup, always easier to ignore the problem when it doesn't affect you directly.......................................... ......YET

If rest of the local governments keep passing laws that fine employers for hiring illegals, etc. Orange will soon be joining the parade. Otherwise they will have more illegals than they know what to do. As for this being a civil rights/racism issue, it is not. All employees will need to prove that they are citizens as well as all renters, and people who want drivers licenses.

Originally Posted by JadedBaztard

Yup, always easier to ignore the problem when it doesn't affect you directly.......................................... ......YET

They are filling up the apartments and cheaper sections of Orange and Carrboro. Of course they cant afford to live next door to these leftists and most of the decision makers dont have children, so they dont see the impact to the schools. There are starting to be complaints from parents though. There is no doubt it is affecting the standards of the Chapel Hill/Carrboro school district. Especially at the lower grade levels where they are approaching 25% of the student pop across the district....