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Most recently, he lobbied for a new $12 million, 240-bed jail -- six times as large as what he needs for local inmates -- so he could have space to become a hub for immigration detainees. He said the fees he receives will help cover the costs of running the jail, which opens this month.

In a recent interview, Johnson said poverty and desperation draw many immigrants into the drug trade. And he said that as the Hispanic community grows, more Hispanic criminals are attracted to the area, because "they don't stand out."

Johnson says it's his job to go after every criminal he sees, and that includes those who break immigration laws.

"A lot of people say it's not politically correct," Johnson said. "Well, I'll tell you something. ... If I turn my back on that responsibility, I have placed my hand on the Holy Bible and didn't fulfill my duty."

Little-used program

Congress created the local immigration enforcement program in 1996. It went unused until 2002, when the Florida Department of Law Enforcement became the first to sign up with Immigration and Customs Enforce-ment, known as ICE.

In the past year, new departments have joined the program at a rapid clip. An ICE spokesman said that a dozen agencies are now enrolled and 40 more have expressed interest.

Officials with ICE must approve each agency that joins. Then designated officers get about a month of training from ICE, and the agency gets access to a federal database that includes information on wanted immigrants, as well as legal immigrants.

Officers can then check the immigration status of every foreign person they arrest and know immediately whether the suspect has been previously arrested or deported. They start deportation procedures for those here illegally, but an ICE agent and a federal judge take final action in each case.

Nolo Martinez, the state's former director of Hispanic affairs, said the program will create fear, fracture communities and discourage Hispanics from calling the police. He predicted that, as counties try to earn profits from immigration inmates, they will fill their jails with Hispanics who have committed misdemeanors and traffic violations.

"Kids are going to be left behind," Martinez said. "Families are going to be broken."

Martinez, who now works for the Center for New North Carolinians, a University of North Carolina program that helps immigrants, said deporting criminals in a handful of counties is an expensive and unfair tactic. Instead, he said, officials should find a legal way for needed foreign workers to immigrate.

Law enforcement officials say the program protects Hispanics, because Hispanic criminals often prey on their own communities. They say immigrants can avoid scrutiny by obeying the law.

Mecklenburg County Sheriff Jim Pendergraph said that, since the program started in May, his officers have found about 1,300 illegal immigrants with criminal records or orders to leave the country, and more than 100 who had been deported before. In the past, Pendergraph said, most of those people would have slipped through the system, because his agency lacked access to the immigration database.

"We're protecting people from illegal immigrants driving drunk and killing our families and selling drugs to our children," Pendergraph said.

Security -- or racism?

In Alamance County, the program is just getting started. Sheriff's department statistics show that, since mid-February, 30 immigrants have been processed for deportation. One had been deported before and one was a felon.

Ebher O. Rossi Jr., an Alamance County defense lawyer and a native of Argentina, said allowing local agencies to enforce immigration laws gives license to those who want to profile and single out immigrants for persecution.

"This gives me an inkling as to what it must have been like for Jews in Germany as Hitler was coming to power," Rossi said. "All the problems are being blamed on one group of people."

Rossi said he has already gotten several calls from Hispanics being held for deportation. One was a 19-year-old with no criminal record who didn't stop for a police siren, Rossi said. Another was a man picked up for driving without a license and running a stop sign.

Rossi declined to give specific information about any of his cases. He said he doesn't argue with a program that would rid the United States of child molesters and murderers. But he said the program could easily be used to deport people who have committed minor offenses and to stoke fear in the Hispanic community.

"Is this a matter of security or is it a matter of racism?" Rossi asked.

Johnson said he has no plans to target illegal immigrants.

He said that he merely checks the status of those who have been arrested for other crimes, and that ICE makes the final decisions about who is prosecuted or deported.

Johnson said he is meeting with Hispanic leaders and making appearances on Spanish radio, trying to assure people that only criminals will be affected.

"We do not choose the race, financial status or color of those individuals who violate the law," Johnson said.

(Researcher Paulette Stiles contributed to this report.)

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