
{"id":2870,"date":"2008-06-26T06:41:21","date_gmt":"2008-06-26T14:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=2870"},"modified":"2008-06-26T08:08:18","modified_gmt":"2008-06-26T16:08:18","slug":"letter-from-the-editor-the-state-we%e2%80%99re-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2008\/06\/26\/letter-from-the-editor-the-state-we%e2%80%99re-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter from the Editor: The state we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I was in the Triad the other day visiting with some fellow media types including blogger Jon Lowder, who related an incident he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d happened upon while returning from a recent visit to Pittsboro.<\/p>\n<p>Lowder encountered a traffic stop on N.C. 87 just inside the Alamance County line. After watching the sheriff deputies and highway patrol checking licenses and looking over the cars, Lowder said it was apparent that the law was interested in vehicles with Hispanic occupants and not much interested in anyone else.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nAlamance, as many of you know, is one of a handful of counties in North Carolina that receives federal funds for participating in Immigration and Customs Enforcement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 287(g) program, which allows them to identify and deport those in the country illegally.<\/p>\n<p>Roughly $750,000 went out to North Carolina sheriffs last year. This year, the amount\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been upped to $1 million even though agencies weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t able to spend all of the previous allocation.<\/p>\n<p>Not to put too fine a point on it, but shortly after passage, Sen. Elizabeth Dole appeared in a campaign commercial with some of those sheriffs.<\/p>\n<p>This week, Rep. David Price said he supported expanding the program, but took flack from anti-immigrant activists because he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s said the program should focus on those in jail and not those gainfully employed. Too soft, they said, pushing for more workplace raids.<\/p>\n<p>While on paper the 287(g) program is intended to apprehend those committing crimes within the community, the techniques used and the results are dubious. It is proving to be a popular program because the people identified and deported are already in jail. But the question not being asked is \u00e2\u20ac\u02dchow did they get there?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n<p>Since implementing the program, Alamance, which has both a swelling Latino population and a long history of anti-immigrant sentiment, has arrested, jailed and deported more than 400 individuals. Most of the offenses that result in the arrest and deportation of those individuals are for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153traffic violations.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The sheriff has proudly reported a drop in crime and a reduction in gang activity. What cannot be proudly reported is that within the Hispanic community there is a growing mistrust of law enforcement and a reluctance for victims of crimes to come forward.<\/p>\n<p>I ran Lowder\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story past a friend who is a civil rights attorney and learned that the traffic stop has become a key method nationwide for nabbing people under ICE. One technique used has officers set up down the road from churches around the time Spanish-language services are letting out.<\/p>\n<p>While to the vehemently anti-immigrant crowd that may sound wonderfully efficient, it is pure and simple racial profiling, and on the taxpayers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 dime at that.<\/p>\n<p>There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no question that as a result of various immigration crackdowns racial profiling is growing in North Carolina. As appalling as that is, the muted reaction is more so.<\/p>\n<p>It used to be that if a law-enforcement organization was engaged in racial profiling it was a bad thing. Now, it might get you featured in a campaign commercial with a politician seeking to show how tough they are.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s election is shaping up to be one in which fear of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153illegals\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is played up to the extreme. There seem to be few politicians of any stripe willing to stand up and say it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s demagoguery. Come fall, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see a variety of Democrats falling all over themselves to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153me, too\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the GOP on cracking down.<\/p>\n<p>This is the state we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in. Where life is a gamble if you dare to cross into Alamance, Wake or Johnston counties with brown skin and improper papers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was in the Triad the other day visiting with some fellow media types including blogger Jon Lowder, who related an incident he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d happened upon while returning from a recent visit to Pittsboro. Lowder encountered a traffic stop on N.C. 87 just inside the Alamance County line. After watching the sheriff deputies and highway patrol&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}