Rep. Myrick, out of touch on immigration reform

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Monday, March 9, 2009

News Rep. Myrick, out of touch on immigration reform

Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 4:01 PM

Representative Sue Myrick supports 287(g), which allows Mecklenburg and Gaston County law enforcement officials to play with ICE-- Immigration and Customs Enforcement, that is.

Though it's thought the program was intended to remove dangerous criminals — who also happen to be undocumented immigrants (and usually Latino) — from Charlotte streets, it also allows the sheriff's office to keep poor records, arrest undocumented immigrants for routine traffic violations, attempt to deport them and blow smoke up the community's collective ass.

Now Rep. Myrick is upset because the program is being questioned by the Obama administration.

State and local leaders who implemented a federal program in Mecklenburg County that identifies jailed illegal immigrants rushed to its defense Monday after a congressional report criticized it for targeting minor offenders instead of the serious criminals it was designed to catch.

U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, a Charlotte Republican who helped bring the program to Mecklenburg, said the report by the Government Accountability Office is biased and unfair. She said it could be a sign that the federal government is softening its stance on illegal administration.

“The administration, I'm concerned, is laying the ground work frankly to gut the 287(g) program,” Myrick said in a press conference at the county jail. “And this to me says we're giving up on the fight on illegal immigration. Period.”

Read the rest of this Charlotte Observer article here.