North Carolina jails as federal immigrant detention centers

MECKLENBURG COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE

North Carolina county jails are part of an essential foundation in the federal government's mass deportation initiative, according to a Prison Policy Initiative study.

North Carolina’s county jails are playing a bigger role in detaining immigrants. 

A study by the Prison Policy Initiative found locally run jails are essential in the Trump administration’s mass deportation initiative, including in North Carolina, one of 25 states where county lockups are the sole detention platform for federal authorities.

“Many cities and states have tried to offer sanctuary for immigrants by refusing to rent jail space to ICE and opting out of the 287(g) program, but it is not enough,” report author Jacob Kang-Brown said. “The Trump administration is leveraging jails at a new scale, using local contracts with the U.S. Marshals Service and existing policing practices in order to expand detention.”

The research concluded ICE relies on local jails to carry out immigration enforcement in two ways: by arresting people after they’ve been booked into custody by local law enforcement and renting jail space to hold people with immigration cases. 

The report, “Hiding in Plain Sight,” which used data obtained from public records requests and the Deportation Data Project, found that:

• North Carolina’s jails are the sole provider of detention capacity to the U.S. Marshals and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In April (the most recent month where data is available), the state’s jails held 52 more people for the U.S. Marshals than in January, an increase of 8%. 

Data from 32 local jails and two federal lockups in North Carolina were included in the data set. Mecklenburg County, where Sheriff Garry McFadden has been a vocal opponent of holding people beyond their release date for federal authorities without a detainer request, was not listed.

Federal agencies can refer people for federal prosecution on immigration-related charges and use local jails’ contracts with the U.S. Marshals Service in so-called sanctuary jurisdictions. 

• There has been a spike in detention by U.S. Marshals Office, which is responsible for holding federal pretrial detainees since Trump took office in January. Most bookings by the Marshals Office since have been of people facing federal immigration-related charges. 

Those charges – which previously were civil immigration matters – have been upgraded to more serious federal crimes, which allows the Marshals to take advantage of contracts with local jails to house immigrants.

• Jails and police departments play a role in criminalizing immigration by detaining people until ICE agents can make an arrest. The study suggests ICE has capitalized on local detention of immigrants on charges that would not lead to jail time for citizens like driving without a license to make more arrests. Jail arrests make up 45% of ICE arrests since Trump’s inauguration.

• Immigration officials rely on collaborations with local law enforcement. According to an analysis of ICE arrest data from Jan. 20-June 26, 45% of agency arrests were transfers from local jails. 

Federal detention data recorded 57,200 people on average in June, but the count of people behind bars is likely higher because ICE data doesn’t account for people facing criminal immigration charges, those held on detainers, in some state detention facilities, or in overnight holding spaces.

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