Immigration study casts doubt on law

This new report says that law agencies and ICE are using racial profiling, which is unfair and a violation of civil rights. DP

Partnership unfair to immigrants, critics say

By Dan Galindo | Journal Reporter

CHAPEL HILL
A new report says that the partnership between the state's local law-enforcement agencies and federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement has created a climate of racial profiling, threatens civil rights and doesn't meet the program's own goals.

The report released yesterday by the UNC School of Law and the ACLU of North Carolina examines the 287(g) program, which takes its name from the section of federal immigration law that established it in 1996.

Eight agencies in the state have the program, which trains local law enforcement to act as immigration authorities. The most common arrangement is for jailers to check immigration status after being trained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Forsyth County has a pending application to start the program, after years of debate over its merits.

At a press conference at the law school, Rebecca Headen, an attorney for the ACLU, said that the study documents allegations of racial profiling and mistakes, including lawful residents stopped and questioned and a handful of cases of citizens who have had proceedings started to deport them.

"That is racial profiling," Headen said. "It is still a violation of civil rights, and it is still morally wrong."
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