Charlotte activists protest Arizona law and 287(g)

Local immigration activists and supporters will march from Charlotte's Marshall Park to the Mecklenburg County jail tomorrow to protest the Mecklenburg County sheriff's 287(g) program and a new Arizona state law that criminalizes illegal immigration.

The rally will begin at 11 a.m. It's one of many such protests around the country that have stolen the spotlight from many other issues this week.

The Arizona law defines illegal immigration as trespassing and allows local law enforcement agencies to question people they suspect of being undocumented.

On Thursday, protesters rallied outside Wrigley Field in Chicago, where the Arizona Diamondbacks were playing the Cubs. One congressman called for Major League Baseball to pull next year's All-Star game out of Arizona.

Opponents of the law say it will encourage racial profiling, break up families, and harm communities by making illegal immigrants fearful of co-operating with police investigating crimes.

Ruben Campillo, N.C. director for Reform Immigration for America, sees the Arizona law as
an extension of 287(g), which allows local law enforcement to place arrested illegal immigrants into deportation proceedings. He said its another example of local governments overstepping their roles to confront an issue that is really the responsibility of the federal government.

Supporters of the law in Arizona say it's not about race, but rules. And that the state was essentially forced to confront the issue because of the federal government's failure to act.

A recent Rasmussen poll indicated 70 percent of likely voters in Arizona support the intent of a law authorizing police to check people they suspect of being illegal immigrants.

According to the Arizona Republic, in the past week, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's office said it received 5,186 calls in favor of the bill, 2,006 against.

LA police chief for reform; not 287(g)

Chief William Bratton says passing immigration reform will make "every American neighborhood much safer."

Bratton, one of the most well-known police chiefs in the country, writes in a Los Angeles Times op-ed this morning that he opposes the federal 287(g) program that allows local law enforcement to double as federal immigration agents. He says the program stops immigrants from reporting crimes for fear of being deported.

It’s an interesting move for the outgoing police chief to insert himself into such a controversial debate. He will take some heat for his stance. Bratton, also the former police chief in Boston and New York, has never shied away from the spotlight. He once considered politics in New York, but he told LA Weekly this spring that he wasn't planning to run for office. He has since put his $1.8 million home up for sale and may be moving to Great Britain for a job at Scotland Yard, according to the Times.

He certainly picked a good time for making a big splash. The immigration debate is only expected to pick up as the White House prepares its strategy to pass comprehensive immigration reform next year.

In his column, Bratton also responds to queries about why he didn’t join 287(g) like many other law enforcement agencies. He says the program damages the trust police have with immigrants.

The 287(g) program is run in Charlotte. The Mecklenburg County Sheriff was one of the first to join the program back in 2006. Critics say the program is more often used to nab minor offenders, but it should be noted that the Mecklenburg program is operated in the jail and deputies are not out searching for illegal immigrants – as is the case in some other major cities.

“We must pass immigration reform and bring our neighbors out of the shadows so they get the police service they need and deserve,” Bratton says. “When officers can speak freely with victims and witnesses, it goes a long way toward making every American neighborhood much safer.”

'America's Toughest Sheriff' loses immigration powers

Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced Tuesday that the federal government had stripped his office of its authority to patrol for illegal immigrants.

Immigration news doesn’t get much bigger than Sheriff Arpaio. The Maricopa County, Arizona sheriff is the most well known sheriff in the immigration debate. He’s famous for his hard-line, no apologies approach.

He makes inmates wear pink. He kept many illegal immigrants in a segregated enclosure known as Tent City where temperatures were so high that groups accused him of human rights violations.

He is a hero of the right and a villain to the left.

Arpaio says he’s not giving up. He plans to use continue his controversial “crime suppression operations,” despite DHS’s decision to not renew an agreement that would allow the sheriff to continue immigration enforcement on the streets, according to the East Valley Tribune.

“It’s all politics,” said Arpaio, who spent much of an afternoon news conference Tuesday wagging his finger, waving his arms and snarling at reporters.

The department of Justice and other federal agencies are investigating the sheriff’s office on accusations of racial profiling during the operations, the paper says.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, with some 160 federally trained deputies, is the largest in the program and the most closely scrutinized by people on all sides of the immigration debate, according to the New York Times.

Arpaio said the vast majority of the 33,000 arrests of illegal immigrants his office has made in the past two years under the agreement followed a check on the immigration status of people in jails. About 300 have been arrested in the field during “crime suppression” operations, he said.

(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Obama tells sheriff to release some illegal immigrants

The Obama administration has ordered a Nashville, Tenn., sheriff to release some illegal immigrants swept up on minor charges. The move has drawn criticism from enforcement advocates and concerns of a return to the widely criticized "catch and release" policy.

The Christian Science Monitor reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement directed the Nashville sheriff to “release on recognizance” some illegal immigrants arrested on such charges as fishing without a license. It appears the Nashville sheriff was the only one issued the directive. But it could affect at lease some of the 66 U.S. law enforcement jurisdictions that are part of a controversial 287(g) program, which deputizes local law enforcement to act as de facto immigration agents.

The 287(g) program has been criticized by immigrant-rights groups as unfair and inhumane. A congressional report released in March criticized the $40 million federal program, saying it is rounding up minor offenders instead of the serious criminals it was designed to nab.

The program is operating in eight N.C. jails, including Mecklenburg, Cabarrus and Gaston counties.

According to a report by the Mecklenburg sheriff, which covered arrests through April 5, more than 6,300 individuals have been placed into deportation proceedings under the program started in 2006. Of those, 609 were arrested on felonies. More than 1,800 were arrested on traffic charges; another 1,523 were charged with DWI.

In May, we reported on enforcement advocates’ concerns that new federal immigration guidelines focusing on employers may signal a return to a de facto catch- and-release policy that allowed captured illegal immigrants to be released while they await a court date. Many never showed up.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform, which advocates stronger enforcement, said new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement guidelines raises questions whether illegal immigrants caught at worksites will be released. FAIR cited a line in the federal memo that states:

ICE will continue to arrest and process for removal any illegal workers who are found in the course of these worksite enforcement actions in a manner consistent with immigration law and DHS priorities.

FAIR contends that “processing for removal” could mean releasing illegal immigrants and giving them a notice to appear in court on a certain day to begin removal proceedings.

Matt Chandler, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman, told the Monitor there has been no policy change.

“ICE always puts a priority on criminal aliens who pose a national security threat,” he said. “We are taking a deep, hard look at the program.”

Releasing minor offenders could significantly impact 287(g), experts say. Pre-2006 studies showed that about 85 percent of illegal immigrants released on bond did not show up for their court date.

Photo: T. Ortega GAINES-ogaines@charlotteobserver.com