Immigration officials blast 'sanctuary' policies of metro NC sheriffs

Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker, Durham County Sheriff Clarence Birkhead, Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden and several other sheriffs elected last fall campaigned on building stronger relationships with their local Latino communities, which they said have been reluctant to report problems to law enforcement because some residents fear being deported.

Since then, the sheriffs have dropped out of the federal 287(g) program that allows local law enforcement to check the immigration status of people arrested and no longer honor detainers to hold people who have finished serving their sentences or posted bond in jail for immigration agents.

All sheriffs have to hold a suspected unauthorized immigrant if a court orders it. But if there is no court order, they’re not required by law to honor detainers issued by ICE.

Wolf said more than 500 ICE detainers were rejected in North Carolina from October 2018 to September, and he cited one case out of Durham County.

"This was a preventable tragedy, and unfortunately, it may occur again and again because local officials here in North Carolina have chosen to place the welfare of criminal aliens over the welfare of the American people," said Wolf, who was surrounded during a news conference by family members of people who were killed by people in the U.S. illegally.

Albence said Cooper is putting politics over public safety.

"There should be nothing political about removing dangerous, recidivist criminals from our streets, and it's incredibly unfortunate that there are those who value their own political self-interest over the safety and security of their constituents," Albence said.

Cooper spokeswoman said the bill was unconstitutional.

"As the former top law enforcement officer in our state, Governor Cooper knows that North Carolina already has laws to arrest and prosecute dangerous criminals, regardless of immigration status," Thorpe said in an email to WRAL News. "Today’s event was about politicians trying to score political points, not about improving the safety of North Carolinians."

Republican lawmakers didn't have the votes to override Cooper's veto, but House Speaker Tim Moore, who sponsored House Bill 370, said he hopes that will change after next year's elections.

"[We need to be] doing all we can in dealing with illegal immigration and dealing with those who are in our country illegally and committing crimes," Moore said. "Those crimes know no bounds, those victims are often random, and in fact, many times those victims are in fact immigrants themselves."

Area immigrant advocates blasted Wolf's and Albence's visit to Raleigh.

"ICE should not be getting involved in local politics," Alissa Ellis, the Regional Immigrants’ Rights strategist for the ACLU of North Carolina, said in an email. "North Carolinians chose to end collaboration with ICE, and today’s press conference demonstrates how far ICE is willing to go to usurp the will of voters."

"Legislators are making a blatant attempt to further criminalize immigrants and assist in maintaining Trump’s deportation force that’s separating families in our state," Eliazar Posada, community engagement and advocacy director for El Centro Hispano, said in a statement.

"These actions in North Carolina come on the heels of DHS policies that seek to separate children from families, deny asylum-seekers the right to apply for protections and raise fees for immigrants who wish to become citizens," said Angeline Echeverría, executive director for El Pueblo, said in a statement.