Sheriff wants immigration hub
Robert Boyer

Alamance County is on its way top becoming one of five illegal immigration enforcement hubs in North Carolina.

During their meeting Monday, four of five commissioners (board Chairman Larry Sharpe was at a conference) gave their nod to Sheriff Terry Johnson’s request for hub status.

The U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the N.C. Sheriffs’ Association have chosen Alamance, Gaston, Cabarrus, Wake and Cumberland counties for the designation, Johnson said.

The designation, if approved in the other counties, means that counties surrounding the hubs will get computers to access a database that shows whether inmates are in the country legally, Johnson said. The feds have picked the sheriffs’ association “to develop the model program for the nation for the immigration process … and this is part of it,â€