Thread: NC-Immigration issues strike chord with commissioner

Immigration issues strike chord with commissioner
Comments 15 | Recommend 7
August 8, 2008 - 6:43PM
Thanks Larry Sharpe.


I just wanted to say that for the record. I doubt the longtime Alamance County commissioner is getting many pats on the back this week - at least not publicly.


That's how it is when someone in politics takes a step out into a target zone, which is what Sharpe did on Monday when he questioned recent immigration efforts in the county. How did he put that again?


"I think our 287 (g) program has gotten out of control. I think the sheriff's office is targeting people for minor violations," Sharpe said during the public comments portion of the commissioners' meeting.


Watching the meeting on video, it seems obvious that Sharpe, the board's chairman, is pained by the tenor of the immigration debate not only in Alamance County but nationwide. He's chagrined by how news coming from the county these days looks to those in other areas. And he's fearful over how this kind of image appears to business leaders who may be looking for a good place to make an economic investment.


"There have been a lot of very derogatory articles in the state's largest newspapers about things in Alamance County," said Sharpe, who called the issues a black eye for the community.


Those aren't the words of a longtime critic of the 287 (g) program, a federal effort in which county law enforcement is trained to work as Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and those in the country illegally that are arrested are quickly processed for deportation. Sharpe was an original supporter of 287 (g), which began a little more than a year ago. He wasn't a rabid supporter, but he approved it nonetheless.
Like many, he thought action needed to be taken on immigration since Washington didn't seem up to the job. When it came to 287 (g) he probably wasn't wildly for or against it. He likely wanted to see how it would work.

After all, Sheriff Terry Johnson told the commissioners the program would target gangs, violent criminals, thieves and drunken drivers. It wouldn't be something in which people would suddenly be uprooted from their families over a broken taillight.


"When (the sheriff) stood before us earlier, he said he wouldn't do that," Sharpe said.


I felt a kinship with Sharpe when he spoke the other day. I decided in 2007 to adopt a wait-and-see attitude about 287 (g). I learned a few years ago that springing to a quick conclusion that something is horribly wrong or blissfully right before it starts is sloppy thinking.


But some of the events Sharpe alluded to in recent weeks make me wonder.


- The Times-News reported in early July that of the 235 people placed on illegal alien detainers this year in Alamance County, 164 were for traffic violations, mostly driving without a license. Thirty-nine of those were for driving while impaired.


- In a story in which the details change with each interview, three small children allegedly wound up alone by the side of Interstate 85/40 after their mom was taken to the Alamance County jail on a charge of having an invalid driver's license and was later placed on a federal immigration detainer. The deputy left the children with a family friend who was in the car. That unidentified person then bolted the scene and left the children behind. While no one knows what actually happened here - all sides have widely varying stories - it's clear that the sheriff's deputy needed an interpreter or a stronger background in Spanish to fully understand what was going on.


- A library worker was detained and set for deportation as part of the SBI probe into the county health department and at the behest of the sheriff's department. The worker, who pleaded guilty Friday to misuse of a Social Security number had lived here since the age of 3, graduated from Cummings High School and has a daughter who is an American citizen. She is on a detainer for deportation. Current immigration laws gave her few other options.


- Speaking of the SBI inquiry, there seem to be an endless stream of McCarthyesque investigations in the county somehow tied to immigration. Johnson so far is releasing little to no information about much of anything.


- And a graduate student at the University of North Carolina showed up at the county jail asking to be arrested for an immigration violation. He did so after contacting reporters from all over the place and inviting them to watch. Free food was not provided, neither was an arrest.


Sharpe, who is not seeking re-election, was particularly touched by the library worker's story, which struck a chord with many. It got the attention of moderates such as Sharpe - people in the community who have had little to say about immigration so far.


"I'd like to see something that would give the young lady who worked at the library a chance to become a citizen rather than be deported," he said and called for federal action on immigration from Washington. "We've got to come up with a reasonable solution."


Like I said, thanks Larry Sharpe.

Madison Taylor is editor of the
Times-News. Contact him by calling 506-3030 or by e-mail at
madison_taylor@link.freedom.com



TimesNews

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NO DEPORT THEM ALL IS THE ONLY ANSWER

THERE IS NO GRAY AREA; SHE SHOULD SELF-DEPORT WITH HER HUSBAND AND RE-ENTERED LEGALLY.

it's clear that the sheriff's deputy needed an interpreter or a stronger background in Spanish to fully understand what was going on.

Or maybe she should SPEAK ENGLISH

The worker, who pleaded guilty Friday to misuse of a Social Security number

Misuse of SS# How about Identity thieft...Felony


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Sharpe speaks out for the illegals while===

Alamance county has over 3500 unemployed and the Alamance area has over 15,000 unemployed. How nice of him. I wonder if he has any concern about the legal voters who put him in office.

NO, HE ONLY CARES ABOUT THE GIVERS OF THE CASH GIVEN TO HIM IN THE BACK POCKET OR UNDER THE TABLE.