AP: Hagan Favors County Immigration Enforcement in North Carolina
By MIKE BAKER
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kay Hagan said Tuesday she supports the idea of county-federal partnerships that put illegal immigrants who commit crimes on the path to deportation.
But unlike other candidates for top statewide office, including chief rival Elizabeth Dole, Hagan told a group of North Carolina sheriffs that she has some major concerns about how officials are proceeding with the program.
“The citizens of North Carolina pay federal taxes,” Hagan told a half-dozen sheriffs during a round-table in Raleigh. “Immigration is certainly a federal issues, and the federal government cannot be throwing another unfunded federal mandate down on us at the state level.”
The program is not mandated, but sheriffs departments that want to help manage illegal immigration in their communities can get training from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and adopt computer systems that help identify illegal immigrants being held in local jails.
Dole, a Republican, has been a leading advocate, traveling the state to help sheriffs sign up. Hogan Gidley, a spokesman for Dole’s campaign, said the first-term senator wanted to begin fixing the problem as Congress struggles to find a solution.
“Sen. Dole is not going to sit around in Washington and wait for what it’s going to do,” Gidley said. “North Carolinians want results.”
But Hagan said that she would not encourage sheriffs to participate in the 287 (g) program if it costs counties money. And the state senator from Greensboro also said she thinks the county-by-county participation creates a patchwork solution, so she warmed to the idea of a more regional plan she said could be more effective and efficient.
Mecklenburg County is one of five North Carolina counties that are participating in the program, and deputies there have already started to deport some 4,300 people who came through the jail system in the past two years. Sheriff Chipp Bailey echoed Hagan’s concern that local officials have been tasked with a job that they shouldn’t have to do.
“Local law enforcement is having to take on some of the federal responsibility for the protection of our community,” Bailey said.
Bailey also said in an interview that his office has 18 people dedicated to managing the program. But he said ICE pays a decent per diem to keep inmates in jail as they await deportation.
Hagan is the only major candidate with qualms about going forward with 287 (g). Democratic governor’s candidate Bev Perdue has said she supports giving state money to fund the program, while Republican rival Pat McCrory supports putting the program in every sheriff’s office in North Carolina.
Hagan also said she wants to focus on securing borders and making sure that employers are hiring legal workers.
“The whole way we handle immigration in this country is flawed,” Hagan said. “We don’t have an immigration system, and that’s why we have a border that’s not secured.”
