ICE continues Charlotte enforcement operations without local Sheriff’s help

CHARLOTTE, NC – Immigration Customs Enforcement is actively searching for more than a dozen undocumented people accused of violent crimes in the Charlotte area right now. The federal agency claims Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden has not complied with their orders making it more difficult to track down targets forcing ICE officers resort to other methods to get the job done.

“Imagine how much more efficient we could be if we focus our effort already in a very safe, confined environment. That transaction is very simple,” Maria Somers, Assistant Field Office Director for the Charlotte ICE office said.

Somers says the majority of Sheriffs across her area of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia comply with ICE orders. The latest numbers from an ICE press release show there are more than a dozen undocumented immigrants accused of crimes still on the streets in the Charlotte area and about half of them have recently been in the Mecklenburg County Detention center. Somers says Sheriff McFadden did not cooperate by giving the agency a heads up about their targets.

“Enforce the laws and let the system play out, let those charges play out,” Somers said. “Once they play out, notify ICE. Let us arrest them and let us remove them.”

When a person is processed into the Mecklenburg County Detention Center, their fingerprints are scanned which triggers a technology system that alerts ICE that an undocumented target is in custody. ICE then sends what’s called an immigration detainer in writing asking for 48 hours notice before the person’s release.

“It is probably one of the most effective tools we have, because the alien is already arrested and located in a safe, secure environment,” Somers said. “So, if the jurisdiction honors our detainer, we’re able to take custody of that person again in a very safe environment.”

Sheriff Garry McFadden accuses the agency of trying to illegally hold people without a warrant and using up county resources while doing it.

“If these individuals truly pose a threat, ICE should be filing the necessary federal charges to ensure they are prosecuted,” Sheriff McFadden wrote in a statement. “Since the implementation of HB10 MCSO has held 180 undocumented individuals for hte additional 48-hour period ICE requested at a cost of nearly $70,000 to taxpayers only for ICE to fail to pick them up. Where is the accountability?”

Somers says ICE is granted special power and doesn’t need a warrant for operations.

“These are laws that are congressionally granted. So, we are doing our job,” Somers said. “We are not the bad people. We’re only acting upon our authority and again, our authority is very broad.”

Somers says even without the help of Sheriff McFadden ICE continues to arrests people every day in the Charlotte area.

“We are going to use all our efforts and resources as needed. We’ve not stopped trying to go make arrests,” Somers said. “We’re going to continue to do that. We are going to take our teams, go out in the streets, put our officers in danger, their safety, not only our officers, but also the people in the community, because, again, an arrest can go so many directions.”

ICE says with its limited resources they prioritize “worst first” which means undocumented immigrants accused of violent crimes are the top targets. Somers says the agency does not track down those targets in churches or schools.

Sheriff McFadden says he is open to collaboration with ICE. He says he will continue to communicate with the agency. Most recently, he says he asked ICE for the names of the individuals ICE recently arrested to research their backgrounds and understand the public safety risk.