Deportation wheels rolling for inmates

127 in Wake may face proceedings

Wake County jailers began processing inmates for deportation July 14 after Wake became the seventh county in the state to team up with the U.S. Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to screen arrested immigrants.

The program, called 287(g) after a code in federal law, has identified 127 people who had immigration detainers lodged against them, meaning that federal officials will seek deportations after their criminal cases are resolved or they're eligible for release on bail.

The program has been criticized in other counties, most notably Alamance, where civil liberties advocates and Latino groups have accused the Sheriff's Office of racial profiling. In recent weeks in Alamance, three children were left on a roadside after their mother was arrested on a traffic violation, and a library worker brought illegally to the U.S. as a toddler was arrested in her workplace after her name popped up in county health records.

In Wake County, Sheriff Donnie Harrison has repeatedly said he will not have his deputies on the street enforce immigration law, but anyone arrested in the county and brought to the jail, whether by the Sheriff's Office or any of the county's police departments, will be checked for immigration violations. Harrison indicated that it's too soon to tell how effective the program has been, Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Phyllis Stephens said.

WHO'S AFFECTED: The names of the people being deported weren't made public by ICE. Nor were the specified state criminal charges that people faced. That's because immigration status is considered to be private information and not subject to federal public records laws, said Barbara Gonzalez, an ICE spokeswoman in Miami.

An overview of crimes provided by ICE shows that a quarter of those being processed for deportation in Wake County came into the jail on charges of driving while impaired. The next-largest category was misdemeanor and felony assault, making up 21 percent. Traffic offenses, such as driving without a license or with a revoked license, made up 20 percent of the deportations.

Five people came in on murder charges, and their deportations won't happen until the five have finished their prison sentences in the event they're convicted in the homicides.

WHAT'S NEXT: Other North Carolina sheriffs are looking to expand the jail program or bring similar programs to the remaining counties with money given to the N.C. Sheriffs' Association by the General Assembly. The American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups indicated that they'll continue to monitor how the program is working in Wake and other counties.

Once the program is further along in Wake County, Harrison plans to have his specially trained deputies look at the immigration status of the entire jail population, not just the recent arrivals who have been the focus for the past two weeks.