Chatham not involved with ICE program

BY BETH VELLIQUETTE : The Herald-Sun
Jan 15, 2009

PITTSBORO -- Although the Chatham County Board of Commissioners and the county's Human Relations Commission approved a resolution of strong opposition to any of its law enforcement agencies contracting with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Chatham County Sheriff Richard Webster said the issue is moot anyway.

The contract that some counties have entered into with ICE is called the 287(g) program. It authorizes ICE and local law enforcement agencies to enter into an agreement to provide local law enforcement officers with training so they could function under the supervision of sworn ICE officers.

Under the program, every person charged with a crime, whether it's for driving without a license or murder, is asked certain questions to determine if they are legally within the United States. If a person is determined to be an illegal alien, then the person would be held for deportation.

Webster said he's not been interested in the ICE program, and he couldn't get it even if he wanted to because Chatham County isn't big enough for it. Also, the county doesn't have enough room in its detention facilities to hold people for deportation, he said.

If the Chatham County Sheriff's Office arrests someone for a serious crime, its investigators still have access and resources to check the person's background through immigration authorities, Webster said.

"It's not something you use every day," he said.

The reason for the resolution passed by the commissioners is to support the current position of Chatham County's law enforcement agencies, Esther B. Coleman, director of the county's Office of Human Relations, said in a statement.

"The purpose of the resolution is to convey the beliefs of the Human Relations Commission and the Board of Commissioners that enforcement of ICE agreements can lead to such problems as violations of civil rights and liberties, distrust of law enforcement, the separation of family members and racial profiling," Coleman said.

While it is important to respect immigration laws, "ICE appears to have various problems, even if many of these are unintended consequences," Margie Ellison, chairwoman of county's Human Relations Commission, said in a statement.

"One of most tragic consequences is that the ICE detention process may separate family members, including abrupt separations of children from their parents," Ellison said.

The resolution notes that one of the stated purposes of ICE is to remove dangerous criminals from the streets, but a North Carolina legislative committee report from May 2007 produced data that showed the program veering from this intent. In the report, statistics from Gaston, Mecklenburg and Alamance counties indicated that the vast majority of ICE detentions were for minor offenses, mostly traffic violations, instead of felony charges.

William Gheen, president and spokesman for Americans for Legal Immigration based in Raleigh, said Chatham County officials will regret their decision to not enter into a 287(g) program.

"We expect they will rescind these policies after the unfortunate deaths that will follow this decision" because of an illegal immigrant who came into contact with police for a lesser infraction was not detained for deportation then, Gheen said.

Determining that someone is in illegal alien after being charged with a misdemeanor, such as driving without a license, is an indication that the person does not respect the laws of the United States, Gheen said.

"The only way a community can legally protect themselves is to have local police check their status when accused of illegal crimes," Gheen said.

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