DWI stats offered to buttress bill
Myrick cites jail figures in push for deportations
CLAY BARBOUR
cbarbour@charlotteobserver.com

In support of her deportation bill Thursday, U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick released numbers that showed 20 percent of illegal immigrants in Mecklenburg and Gaston county jails last year were charged with DWI.

According to officials with the Mecklenburg and Gaston sheriff's offices, almost 1,000 illegal immigrants were charged in 2007 with drunken driving.

In total, the two departments handled almost 60,000 arrests that year.

Myrick spokesman Andy Polk said the Republican congresswoman from Charlotte hoped the information would help pass the Scott Gardner Act. The law would make DWI a deportable offense. The bill is in a Homeland Security subcommittee.

"I think those numbers are staggering," Polk said. "We plan on using these statistics to push this issue."

But some critics called the statistics incomplete. The sheriff's offices only broke down the percentage of DWI arrests for illegal immigrants, not for other inmates. As such, the numbers don't tell whether illegal immigrants account for a statistically significant portion of drunken drivers.

In fact, between July and December 2007, Hispanics accounted for 18 percent of DWIs in Mecklenburg County, according to the Sheriff's Office. Whites accounted for the largest amount, 60 percent. Blacks had 20 percent.

"This is just another way to sensationalize numbers," said Angeles Ortega-Moore, head of the Latin American Coalition. "There is no context to this. It does nothing for the community. It is just a campaign slogan."

The Scott Gardner Act is named after a Gaston County high school teacher killed in 2005 by an illegal immigrant driving under the influence.
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