Mecklenburg sheriff McFadden slams ICE cooperation bill

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Mecklenburg County sheriff Garry McFadden opposes a bill that would require cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden slammed a bill that would require North Carolina sheriffs to cooperate with immigration officials to hold undocumented people.

McFadden opposes House Bill 10 – The Require Sheriffs to Cooperate with ICE – and corresponding Senate Bill 50 as redundant and overreach of local authority to participate in – or not – the voluntary federal 287(g) program. North Carolina law already mandates all sheriffs make inquire and notify federal officials regarding undocumented immigrants, which McFadden insists, makes another statute unnecessary.

“Like its predecessors HB370 and SB101, HB10 and SB50 seeks to force every duly elected Sheriff in North Carolina to honor voluntary Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers, even if the Sheriff and the respective communities they serve oppose to such cooperation with ICE,” McFadden said in a statement. “These bills are another attempt to diminish the power of Sheriff and doesn’t allow local communities to set their own policies.

“I remain steadfast in my belief that the people of each county as reflected by the decisions of the Sheriff whom they elected should retain the ability to decide within the clear confines of the law as to what extent local law enforcement might cooperate with federal immigration authorities.”

The bill, which advanced from committee Tuesday, reads: “When any person charged with a felony or an impaired driving offense is confined for any period in a county jail, local confinement facility, district confinement facility the administrator or other person in charge of the facility shall attempt to determine if the prisoner is a legal resident of the United States by an inquiry of the prisoner, or by examination of any relevant documents, or” is charged with a felony.

If the administrator can’t determine if that prisoner is a legal U.S. resident or citizen, an inquiry must be made to ICE to do it. If federal authorities determine the incarcerated isn’t a citizen, they can order the inmate be held for processing and possible deportation. Sheriffs in the state’s urban areas – most of them Black – have long held out against incarcerating people solely to hand them over to federal officials.

… “I stand firmly against HB10 and SB50 and believe that Mecklenburg County is safer when all members of our community can trust and engage with local law enforcement without fear of repercussions as it pertains to their federal immigration status,” McFadden said.

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