Thread: NC: Illegal turns himself into sheriff, told to go to ICE

Keren Rivas / Times-News
GRAHAM - Jose Duarte came to the Alamance County Sheriff's Department expecting to be arrested. Instead, he received a lesson on the inner workings of the sheriff's department.

TV cameras, reporters and photographers from media outlets throughout the Triangle were waiting for Duarte to show up at the sheriff's department Thursday at noon.

Duarte, 36, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, had contacted the media in advance to let them know of his plans to turn himself in as a protest for the recent arrest of a Graham library worker who was working in the country illegally.

"I want to bring attention to the Marxavi (Angel) Martinez situation," he told the Times-News before he showed up at the department.

Earlier this month, and at the petition of Sheriff Terry Johnson, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents began investigating 23-year-old Martinez. She was eventually charged with aggravated identity theft and other felonies for using the Social Security number of a dead person to gain employment in a county library. She is currently under a federal detainer and faces deportation.

To have her arrested, Duarte said, "is completely arbitrary." In Duarte's view, he and Martinez are no different. Both had Mexican parents and both grew up in this country. The only distinction, he said, was that unlike him, Martinez did not have government-issued documents.

To show his discontent, and to make a point, Duarte decided to protest at the sheriff's department.

"I'm Mexican and I don't have any documentation on me so I am turning myself in," Duarte told a very baffled receptionist at the sheriff's department.

"If they are going to arrest the librarian they can arrest me because I like books," Duarte commented as he waited for an answer to his request.

But as Duarte soon discovered, federal agents - not local deputies - are responsible for enforcing immigration laws.

"I guess the appropriate place would be to go to an immigration office," Maj. Tim Britt told Duarte after he was told of his request.

"You don't want to book me?" Duarte asked.

"No sir, we don't arrest on immigration violations," Britt answered. "That would be the Immigration and Custom Enforcement (office). I'd be glad to get you a number for them."

After a short exchange with Britt and Sheriff Johnson, Duarte left the department a free man.

"He was surprised that we didn't arrest him," Johnson said of Duarte during an impromptu press conference after the man left the sheriff's department. "Had he violated the law, certainly we would have arrested him."

Johnson said he was surprised to come into the office to find Duarte surrounded by the media. But, he said, that doesn't change the way his department operates. He said he explained to Duarte that it is not his department's duty to arrest people on immigration violations. He said his department does not make a distinction between legal or illegal residents when it comes to violating the law. In Martinez' case it was identity theft.

"What if this Social Security number that our librarian had taken had been reissued," he said. "She would have been making money going on that Social Security and possibly prevented whoever got that Social Security back from receiving benefits that they so rightfully paid for as American citizens."

He said his department was tipped by a reliable source that Martinez had lied in her employment application, something he could not have ignore or "sweep under the rug." He added that the information did not come from medical records, though Department Spokesman Randy Jones said the information came as a result of the probe into the writing of aliases on doctor's notes by Alamance County Health Department employees.

"I don't have a choice as sheriff to enforce the law. I cannot selectively enforce the laws of this state and nation," he said. "As long as I am wearing the Alamance County Sheriff's Department's badge ... I am going to enforce the law straight across the board."

He added, "I don't care if it was the president of the United States if he didn't have diplomatic immunity and he come to Alamance County and violated the law he better be charged by one of my deputies."

http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/gets_1 ... slComments

Illegal turns himself into sheriff, told to go to ICE

The man was not an illegal alien, it was a publicity stunt by a college student. Besides that, this is a duplicate post.

Man, y'all are on top of this stuff. Can't believe the paper would print a bogus story . Was wondering why the story wasn't on the site this afternoon. Least they could have printed up a follow on...

Hhahahhaha. Soooo funny. He went to the wrong authorities!! And it was all caught on camera. Hahahahaha. Instead of getting the attention he wanted, he got egg on his face. Hahhaha. They should send the video to Dumb Criminals or something like that.

Omg, this made my day.

MW is right! This guy is just pretending to be an illegal alien! He has proper documentation thank goodness. I'd be pretty upset if he was an illegal alien Grad student at UNC!

I'm Mexican arrest me? What a jerk.

W

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

MW is right! This guy is just pretending to be an illegal alien! He has proper documentation thank goodness. I'd be pretty upset if he was an illegal alien Grad student at UNC!

I'm Mexican arrest me? What a jerk.

W

See how they always turn it into a race issue AND THEY CALL US RACISTS????? B.S.!!!

Duarte completely didn't get that she was arrested for identity theft and other felonies, NOT her illegal alien status! If she had been a US citizen, she would have still been arrested and prosecuted. Since she is NOT a legal resident, she will be prosecuted and part of that means DEPORTATION!

I'm glad he had the media with him to show what a clueless fool he is! What scares me is that he is a GRADUATE student and STILL be so dumb?

A graduate student acting this infantile and sounding this stupid on television ? Wait till he see's what happens to his job prospects when any possible future employer googles him. He might as well leave the country.
It kinda reminds me of the Southwest Airlines commercial where someone does something extremely stupid and the end line is " Need to get away" ?

Please read more comments at the this link where this story was previously reported under a different title.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-125941.html

To help reduce duplicate posts, please use the search feature at the top of the page for title, author, key words. You may also use a search engine such as google with the title, author, and "alipac" together. When choosing a forum to place your article, please check for previous posts.

Thank you.

Ephesians 4:32