Thread: NC: Traffic charges can bring deporation -- 287(g)

GRAHAM — Some illegal immigrants in North Carolina are being deported after being jailed for traffic violations.

Opponents of the program to screen jail inmates’ immigration status say deportations after traffic arrests hurt people who are basically law-abiding and productive. Supporters, however, say that the immigrants are being held to the same standards as citizens and that deportation is a just consequence of being in the country illegally.

Mecklenburg, Alamance, Cabarrus and Gaston counties participate in the program, in which local jailers find illegal immigrants already in custody and cooperate with federal officials to deport them. Wake County commissioners designated more than $600,000 last week to bring the program to Wake County in the next six months.

In Mecklenburg, 29 percent of the 3,175 people processed for removal since the program’s inception in 2006 came into the county jail on traffic violations, ranging from driving without a license to reckless driving, according to data kept by the Sheriff’s Office. In Alamance, the percentage of traffic violators may be as high as 37 percent. According to Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson, 670 people have been processed for removal or sent letters ordering them to appear in immigration court.

Gaston and Cabarrus counties did not provide statistics.

Supporters of the effort said illegal immigrants deported as a result of the jail program are getting their just deserts.

“It’s the second time they’ve broken the law,â€

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