Dole talks textiles, energy and 287 (g) during visit

August 8, 2008 - 5:07PM
Roselee Papandrea / Times-News
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole does not support rounding up illegal immigrants in Alamance County and running them through the 287 (g) program.

"It's not practical," said Brian Nick, Dole's chief of staff. "It's not possible. It's not fundable and in many cases, how would you possibly monitor the abuse of civil rights and all kinds of other things."

Dole, who was in the county Friday to receive the N.C. Textile Manufacturers Association's Chairman Award at National Spinning Co., spoke to the Times-News about several issues impacting county residents, including the 287 (g) program, gas prices, mill closings and layoffs.

Dole said the federal government has provided sheriffs in North Carolina with tools, including 287 (g), to help to "identify, to apprehend and to deport those who have committed crimes."

"They have self-identified by the criminal behavior they have engaged in," Dole said.

She said that a representative from her office meets with sheriffs from North Carolina once a month to discuss immigration issues. She was aware of two recent cases in Alamance County that have sparked debate among county officials and immigration advocates but didn't comment specifically on the arrest of Maria Chavira Ventura or Marxavi Angel-Martinez.

Ventura was stopped in June on Interstate 40/85 by a sheriff's deputy and charged with driving without a license and displaying a fictitious license plate. Ventura's three children were left alone on the side of the interstate for eight hours.

Angel-Martinez, a part-time library worker in Graham, was charged in July by Immigration and Customs Enforcement with identity theft and other felonies for using the Social Security number of a dead person to gain employment. Sheriff Terry Johnson told the Times-News that Angel-Martinez was investigated after his department received information from a confidential source that an illegal county employee received services at the health department.

Dole stressed that the 287 (g) program was designed to identify criminals and not meant to create a manhunt for people who are breaking the law because they are living in this country illegally.

"The sheriffs have been very, very strong in making that clear that they are not just going out to pick people off the street," Dole said. "It's not what they want to do. They want to focus on crimes."

Racial profiling was happening in North Carolina and across the country before 287 (g) was implemented and continues to occur, said Nick, who didn't specifically reference any law enforcement agency.

"It's a terrible thing and nobody condones that in Sen. Dole's office," he said. "We don't have the manpower or the resources to go out and do a wholesale roundup of illegal immigrants. It's just not practical."

In regard to the textile industry, Dole was praised by both Jim Chesnutt, chief executive officer of National Spinning Co., and Allen Gant Jr., president of Glen Raven, for her accessibility and contribution to both textiles and manufacturing in the state.

Chesnutt presented Dole with a plaque recognizing her as a recipient of the N.C. Textile Manufacturers Association's Chairman's Award.

"Suffice to say, it has been a very guarded award and has only been made to those people who have made a difference in this industry, specifically the textile industry and the manufacturers in North Carolina," Chesnutt said. "You have done that for us. You have carried the banner when we needed it."

Dole expressed concern for the hundreds of people in the county who have been laid off from textile jobs. She said that both the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act and the Higher Education Act, both of which she supports, are meant to help people laid off from area mills get the training they need to find other jobs.

Dole recently co-sponsored the Gas Price Reduction Act, which lifts the ban on outer continental shelf exploration and gives individual states the right to search for deep ocean resources. She said she is also working on measures so that people will start seeing a difference at gas pumps immediately.

"First thing I want to do that will really help you right away, is take a third of the oil in the strategic petroleum reserve and sell it and show the speculators that we mean serious business here," she said. "That would help to immediately bring down the price of gasoline at the pump."

Dole said she called upon the president to set up a gas market task force to make sure there isn't any "manipulation or corruption" going on.

"Those things can help immediately," she said. "Now, we've got to throw everything on the table, including the kitchen sink. We need a comprehensive energy plan and that's what I think is vitally important right now."

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