Nothing could be clearer to Charlotte’s undocumented community than the convenience of deporting criminals.
No one wants to be considered among those who steal, lie in court, falsify documents, protect drug dealers or associate with convicted murderers. Law-abiding undocumented immigrants see the behavior of these people as a plague that gives a shameful image to the local Hispanic community.
Everyone supports the expulsion of assassins and gang members because those people don’t represent the majority of Latino workers who have come to help build this country.
However, it is unconscionable not to have a transparent and clear idea of how the present process of arrest, detention and removal of foreign-born criminals is taking place.
Two weeks ago, I asked the Mecklenburg Sheriff’s Department for a list of inmates incarcerated in Charlotte’s jails who were transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during February. The purpose was to determine who they were and why they were in a potential deportation process.
I made the request after ICE official Kenneth Smith revealed that, on average, eight to 10 “illegal aliens” are being deported from Charlotte every week. Smith spoke during Congresswoman Sue Myrick’s announcement of a federally funded program to train Mecklenburg County sheriff’s deputies as immigration officers, giving them power to identify and remove undocumented individuals.
I have been unsuccessful in getting the list. The sheriff’s office was willing to provide it, but an ICE employee alleged it is not a public record. ICE Special Agent Jeff Jordan told me I might have to present a Freedom of Information request to obtain the “confidential” document.
Perhaps it is not an obligation for the federal authorities to give the list. But the sheriff, who is chosen by the citizens of Mecklenburg County, is obligated to reveal who have been prisoners in county jails. After all, photos and charges of inmates appear online. Anybody can see them, even someone who has access to the Internet in Morocco or Greenland.
It would be terrible if local Spanish-language media and grass-roots Latino organizations could not monitor how and why the undocumented immigrants who end up in hands of ICE are being arrested. Revealing names and charges is the only way to verify that all agencies — police departments, the sheriff’s office and ICE — play fair in the implementation of Myrick’s pilot program for North Carolina.
We need to prevent a witch hunt against our most defenseless people. The only fact I got from my request to the sheriff was that between Feb. 1 and Feb. 24 of this year, 135 inmates of Charlotte jails were turned over to ICE. The figure averages to 33 weekly removals of “illegal aliens” from county detention centers. Beginning in April, the immigration status of everyone born on foreign soil who steps into local jails will be checked, including naturalized citizens and legal residents.
CMPD statistics showed in 2005 that 4,162 individuals with Hispanic last names were detained in Charlotte. If 70 percent of those were undocumented immigrants, are we at the door of a massive deportation operation?
How the authorities will protect hard-working immigrants is the question. Last year, 8,413 Latinos were victims of crimes in Charlotte. The panic in Hispanic neighborhoods is growing, and the hot potato is in the hands of the police.
Colombia native Rafael Prieto Zartha is editor of the local Spanish-language paper Mi Gente.
This article appears in Mar 15-21, 2006.
