Public weighs in on 287(g)
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August 19, 2008 - 12:03AM
Robert Boyer / Times-News

For well over an hour Alamance County residents spoke on the sheriff's immigration enforcement measures.

Some quoted the Bible and great moral leaders. Treat the alien in your midst with compassion, they enjoined.

Set up a committee to oversee Sheriff Terry Johnson's 287 (g) program, and allow a mechanism for complaints, others said.

Jared Hanson, the pastor at Fairview United Methodist Church north of Elon shared his concerns about 287 (g), the program from Homeland Security that gives local officers federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement powers. "The number and diversity of people who are extremely bothered by the facts and the perception of the implementation of 287 (g) is vast and quickly gaining momentum nationally and locally."
He and others worry that 287 (g) is creating "undue fear, anxiety and distress that will create greater divisions in our communities ..."

Hanson appealed to the Alamance County Board of Commissioners "to re-evaluate the humanitarian, the moral and spiritual implications of programs like to 287 (g)."
Others, like longtime Graham resident Janice McSherry, praised Johnson, and detailed crimes and other problems they said illegal immigrants are causing.
"I do not believe that Sheriff Johnson or his staff is overstepping their bounds," she said. "They uphold the laws."

McSherry said she welcomes legal immigrants. "But people who break the laws and enter our country illegally, obtain illegal Social Security numbers and commit other incidents are breaking the laws of our country and should be held accountable."
Detractors appeared to outweigh supporters at the podium and in the crowd, judging by the level of applause given to some speakers.

Others, including a woman from Germany and another from South Africa, said the situation calls for a combination of better laws, compassion and enforcement. And while the commissioners listened intently to this first real gathering of both sides in the county's contentious debate over illegal immigration enforcement, they didn't act, at least for the moment.

More than 175 packed Monday night's commissioners meeting. Officials, anticipating a large crowd, moved the gathering to a courtroom in the County Building.
The room wasn't big enough for an overflow crowd and the horde of media.
Many were there to hear a report from the sheriff's office detailing the findings of a joint investigation at the Alamance County Health Department into possible fraud over the writing of alias work notes for several Hispanic clients.

Sheriff's Maj. Tim Britt gave a detailed report. In it, Britt said investigators with the State Bureau of Investigation and the federal department of Health and Human Services concluded that Medical Director Dr. Kathleen Shapley-Quinn and Nurse Practitioner Karen Saxer committed no crimes in writing the notes. Click here to see video of the presentation.

The probe focused on five people who had received work notes. None received prescriptions and none received services they weren't entitled to, Britt said.
One of the five, Maria Sanchez of Swepsonville, was processed for deportation after Veronica Arias, a woman in Texas, reported that a woman from Swepsonville had stolen her identity. Sanchez, Britt said, used Arias' birth date and Social Security number.
BRITT ALSO concluded that the department, as well as the county's Department of Social Services, was forced to follow conflicting directives from state and federal officials regarding the release of information about illegal immigrants. Some policies prohibit the release of such information, or even inquiring about it; other directives require employees to provide information to criminal investigators, Britt said.

His report came just hours after Rob Johnson, the county's district attorney, said he won't file charges against Shapley-Quinn and Saxer, who have been on paid administrative leave for two months.

Sheriff Johnson followed the presentation by urging the commissioners to find a solution to the conflicting instructions and do what they can to "meet our citizen's medical and financial needs."

"What has happened to our country, our state and our county when a government employee cannot report a felony crime," Johnson continued. "This is absurd and goes against the very moral fiber that our country was founded upon."

Johnson also responded to his numerous critics, especially regarding 287 (g). Johnson insisted that his department doesn't profile Hispanics and remained adamant that he will enforce all the laws, despite detractors who remind the sheriff of his earlier promises to process through 287 (g) only those committing felonies.

"If you want to come here illegally and live in this country, do not violate any laws," he said.
If residents want something different, they should either work to change the laws or vote him out of office.
"But as long as I'm sheriff, I am going to do my job, commissioners. And the only thing that you can do is cut my budget."
Johnson said Commissioner Chairman Larry Sharpe "had gotten people stirred up by saying the sheriff's office profiles."
During the Aug. 4 commissioners' meeting, Sharpe said he thought the program was "out of control" in the county.

Sharpe stood by his earlier comments. "You've given your report. Now you're starting to editorialize."

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