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Sunday, March 28, 2010

Residents say program too harsh

Despite study, sheriff says 287(g) rids community of most serious offenders
By John Harbin Times-News Staff Writer
BlueRidgeNow.Com
March 28, 2010

A recent study found that most people deported through the 287(g) program were arrested for driving offenses, and some local residents are criticizing the effort as being too harsh.

Despite these concerns, Henderson County Sheriff Rick Davis said 287(g) has been effective in protecting the community. He has plans to continue the federal program and even ramp it up.

The program has also been questioned by the Henderson County Latino Coalition and discussed in Chapel Hill at a public conference.

A new study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who studied arrest data in five North Carolina counties but not Henderson, said the program is intended to prioritize policing serious and violent crimes. The study said it has not done so, and researchers asked whether the money might be better spent on other crime-fighting efforts.

They also said their findings debunk the myth that increased immigration means higher crime rates.

"The study found that the majority of unauthorized immigrants are deported for driving-related offenses, not serious or violent crimes," wrote researchers Hannah Gill, Ph.D., assistant director of the Institute for the Study of the Americas, and Mai Nguyen, Ph.D., assistant professor in the city and regional planning department.

The study was based on a review of data from 2007 to 2009 provided by sheriff's offices in Alamance, Cabarrus, Gaston, Mecklenburg and Wake counties. Those counties made data available for the study.

The 287(g) program is carried out through partnerships between local law enforcement agencies nationwide and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), part of the federal Department of Homeland Security.

The name refers to the section in federal law that authorizes it, which originated with amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act Congress passed in 1996. Local deputies are trained to screen arrested people to determine their residency status and allows participating counties to begin deportation procedures.

When someone is arrested, one screening question is whether they were born in the United States. If the answer is no, deputies send their fingerprints through an ICE database. In moments, deputies can learn whether the arrested person is in the country illegally.

Gill and Nguyen found that of everyone booked through 287(g) from 2007-2009 in the study counties, 86.7 percent were charged with misdemeanors and 13.3 percent with felonies.

'The program will continue'

Davis rebuts the study's findings. In Henderson County in January and February, deputies arrested 31 people who were placed in ICE custody. Of those 31 people, only five had traffic violations with no other criminal history or interaction with ICE.

Davis referenced a recent case where a Hispanic male was arrested for indecent liberties with a minor.

Guillermo Mendez-Florez, 36, was arrested at his home at 519 East Blue Ridge St. without incident, according to Henderson County Sheriff's Office Spokesman Capt. Charlie McDonald.

"He was taken into custody by deputies after an investigation by the sheriff's Special Victims Unit and transported to the Henderson county Detention Center," McDonald said. After it was determined that Mendez-Flores was in the U.S. illegally, authorities jailed him without bond.

"This man has a criminal history of 14 various misdemeanors," Davis said. "If he had been arrested and taken through the 287(g) program, he wouldn't have been here to commit the indecent liberties."

The five individuals picked up on traffic violations most likely will not be deported, he said.

As far as the money, Davis said the Sheriff's Office is breaking even with 287(g).

"Last year we were reimbursed $566,448," he said. "That money is going to pay for every aspect of the program."

Davis said the bottom line is 84 percent of the people jailed in January and February under 287(g) were charged with a felony, were wanted for a felony or had a history with ICE.

"This program works in preventing crime," he said. "The program will continue. We will also be adding a 287(g) detective in the future."

The program has its supporters and critics.

"I have a sympathetic heart for people," said Jasper Hopper of Clear Creek. "I have talked to Davis and he gave me an understanding of his job. With illegal immigrants, we don't know who is coming across the border. Sheriff Davis explained that drugs are coming from across the border and I believe it is drugs that causes the crime."

Janet Murray of Horse Shoe disagrees that the program is a threat.

"I think it should continue," she said. "It is removing the lawbreakers. They shouldn't be here in the first place."

Deputies stop Latinos

State figures show Henderson County deputies make traffic stops for Latino drivers at a disproportionately high rate, said Carolina McCready, co-director of El Centro in Hendersonville.
"Since the inception of the 287(g) program by the Henderson County Sheriff's Department, accusations of racial profiling and civil rights violations are on the rise," she said in an e-mail responding to questions from the Times-News.

"The Sheriff's Department of Henderson County has reported to the N.C. Department of Justice that between January 2007 and December 2009, over 18 percent of the traffic stops made have involved Latinos. That translates to 1 in 5 traffic stops (compared) to a population that numbers 1 in 20."

McCready said the program has stoked fears in the Latino community.

"Since its inception, you may have noticed that the national spotlight is on North Carolina for how to deal with the immigration issue," she said. "This concentrated effort is illustrated over the last five years by the denial of access to driver's licenses or identification cards without a Social Security number, banning of undocumented students who have graduated from the public school system to attend community colleges, out-of-state tuition fees with no access to financial aid for these students even if they reside in North Carolina, and the adoption of anti-immigrant laws such as 287(g).

"As a resident of Western North Carolina, you may be shocked to realize that what happens in Henderson County could affect immigration reform across the country."

Agencies serving Latino immigrants in Henderson County have seen a dramatic drop in participation in programs and services following the implementation of 287(g), according to McCready.

"Many community-building functions, including a youth forum, have been canceled when license check points outside Latino neighborhoods keep people from leaving their homes and rumors of immigration raids spread through the community," she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story

http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20100328/SERVICES03/3281083?Title=Residents-say-program-too-harsh