Alamance County Sheriff's Office
Dear Sheriff Johnson,
We, the undersigned civil rights, labor rights, faith-based, immigrant rights, legal service, and community-based organizations, request that you not bring back to Alamance County the 287g agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It is especially important that Alamance county does not bring back 287g agreement which put our county in the national spotlight for its poor implementation, civil rights violations and decreased trust that immigrants in Alamance County, and surrounding areas, have in law enforcement.
Like other programs, agreements and policies that forge a collaboration between ICE and local law enforcement, the 287g program funnels immigrants into a detention and deportation system that does not afford due process rights, and ultimately tears families apart, leaving our communities weaker and more fearful of interacting with local law enforcement.
The 287g program costs money, damages public safety, and increases the risks of racial profiling. The 287g program diverts officers from their local work to do ICE’s job for them. Numerous reports and studies have shown the negative human and legal impacts of implementing 287g [1]. Moreover, 287g is not mandatory: only 78 law enforcement agencies in the entire country and 5 in North Carolina have 287g agreements for their officers to act as immigration agents. The Maricopa County, AZ program, run by Sheriff Joseph Arpaio, was the largest 287g jurisdiction, until it was terminated following a federal investigation into racial profiling and discrimination.
The county of Alamance is home to many immigrants and 287g hurts the trust from immigrant community members. When some of our neighbors are reluctant to communicate with local law enforcement, even when they are victims or witnesses to crime, everyone is our community is less safe.
We respectfully request that you do not bring back Alamance County's agreement with ICE.
Sincerely,
Organizations:
ACLU of North Carolina
Alamance County Human Relations Commission
Alamance Peace Action
American Friends Service Committee of the Carolinas
El Centro Hispano, Inc.
El Pueblo
El Vínculo Hispano
Latino Commission on AIDS
Latinos of Alamance County, NC
Muticultural Education Department
NC Council of Churches
NC NAACP
Souhteast Immigrant Rights Network (SEIRN)
Student Action with Farmworkes