Sheehan: Published: Jul 25, 2008 12:30 AM Modified: Jul 25, 2008 01:24 AM
Human kindness missing

Ruth Sheehan, Staff Writer
Comment on this story

Could it be that Tim Sutton, the Alamance County commissioner who has led the charge against illegal immigration in his county and the state, finally sees the harsh flip side of his cause?
Maybe. Maybe not.

On Wednesday morning, the plain-spoken Sutton reflected on what many view as an outrageous case of immigration enforcement gone heartlessly awry.

In this case, a mother and her three kids, along with an acquaintance from church, were traveling Interstate 85 through Alamance County when they were stopped for an out-of-date tag decal.

Turns out the mother didn't have a valid driver's license -- illegal immigrants never do.

Next thing you know, the mother was hauled off in handcuffs while the kids were left with a man they barely knew -- a man who called the children's father in Maryland and then took off, fearing he would be rounded up next.

The kids ended up spending more than eight terrifying hours on the side of the expressway, waiting for their father to drive from Maryland.

Even Sutton admits it was not the high point of his pet initiative.

"The question you have to ask is: Would we have done that with a family of any other ethnic group?" Sutton said. "Would it have happened if they were white? Or black?"

And the answer is no.

No way.

Imagine me, in my dusty ol' minivan, three kids strapped into their seats, getting stopped in the middle of the night on I-85 for a similar set of offenses.

Would a sheriff's deputy have whisked me away to jail? In handcuffs?

I doubt it.

More important, would he have left my three kids with a friend by the side of a busy interstate in the middle of the night?

Absolutely not.

Sutton said he would not have left those children, or any children, unless he knew with great certainty that they would be cared for appropriately.

And while a spokesman for the Alamance County Sheriff's Office defended its deputy's handling of this case, Sutton said he thinks the office needs to revisit its policies.

At the same time, Sutton said, he would hate to see an "error in judgment" cast a poor light on the 287(g) program, which trains local officers to start deportation proceedings against inmates in the United States illegally. Alamance and Wake are two of seven North Carolina counties that have this federal program.

It's working well in Alamance, Sutton said. Currently, 80 people thought to be illegal immigrants are being detained at the Alamance jail. No better proof than that.

Besides, Sutton said, it was the mother who put her children at risk.

"I'm sorry I don't have any sympathy," said Sutton. "If you're in this country illegally, I want you out of here."

But what about the children, the younger of whom are U.S. citizens?

Did they deserve to be left like trash on the shoulder of an interstate?

This incident is further evidence that when you arrive in this country without the proper documentation, you surrender the basic human right to be treated with decency.

Sutton asked a good question: Would we have done that with a family of any other ethnic group?

I have a better one: Where is the humanity?


ruth.sheehan@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4828
Comments Add Comment Disclaimer
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1153541.html