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," said Tim Gill, a Graham resident who works at a downtown furniture store.

But Antonio Vasquez, a Charlotte researcher gathering information on the program for the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization, said the programs separate parents and children.

"It's been pushed because it's a way to keep criminals away from a community," Vasquez said. "We really didn't know anything about the program and how detrimental it would be to families."

Unease over the deportation proceedings is apparent in Alamance County, with owners of businesses catering to Hispanics reporting that sales are down as much as 30 percent with customers either moving from the area or saving their money if they have to suddenly leave.

"He [Johnson] wants to take all the bad people from here, but what about the good people?" said Sergio Guzman, owner of Guzman's Market in Burlington. The aisles of his brightly lit store with an in-house butcher and specialties from Mexico and other Latin American countries are often empty these days. When customers come, they speak frequently about the deportation. "They are scared," he said.

Leticia Jaimes Avila of Haw River moved to Alamance County six years ago after illegally crossing the U.S-Mexico border with her two children. On Friday, she was served with an order to appear in front of a deportation officer. She had been arrested on a charge of driving without a license. North Carolina, unlike some states, requires a valid Social Security number or visa to obtain a license.

"I don't know what's going to happen," she said. Her 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son are enrolled in school and her youngest son, now 4, was born here and is a U.S. citizen. She is scheduled to meet with a deportation officer in Charlotte in December and hopes to ask an immigration judge for leniency.

Johnson said that for every person like Jaimes, his officers also see convicted sex offenders, immigrants charged with robberies and other serious crimes. He has to check everyone who comes into his jail, no matter what they're charged with.

Besides, Jaimes committed a crime by driving in North Carolina without a license, he said.

"We didn't put her in that position; she put her in that position and her family in that position," he said.

North Carolina, which has one of the nation's fastest-growing immigrant populations, has more pending requests to implement the program than any other state, said Richard Rocha, an ICE spokesman. "We want to work with all the counties that are interested," Rocha said.

In Wake County, Harrison said he will press forward with his plans to bring the program to his jail and stressed that victims and people his officers encounter in the streets of Wake County will not be affected.

"We're not going to tolerate profiling," he said.