After hosting a speech by anti-immigration activist William Gheen earlier this month–in which Gheen compared Chatham County to the Soviet Union, and human rights activists to “foot soldiers” in a battle over immigration–Chatham Conservative Voice invited county commissioners to attend a Thursday night “community forum” to discuss their resolution opposing 287(g), a voluntary immigration enforcement program. The resolution, which commissioners unanimously approved in January, describes the federal program as a costly, and ineffective means of deterring crime. (A recent study by the UNC Law School and the ACLU arrived at the same conclusion.)
However, citing concerns for his own safety, Board of Commissioners Chairman George Lucier declined to attend the Feb. 26 event. In a previous interview with the Indy, Lucier read off several threatening e-mails he said he had received in response to the board’s resolution, citing the Gheen speech as an aggravator. In a response posted on the Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee Web site, Gheen wrote that “such reports by illegal alien supporters are usually a bunch of hot air and hyperbole,” adding, “I’d be squirming to [sic], if my e-mail box and voicemail was overloaded with contacts from people that fervently disagree with my positions.”
In advance of the Feb. 26 CCV forum, NC FIRE, a Wade, N.C.-based anti-immigration group, distributed e-mails equating illegal immigrants with terrorists, and urged attendees to “fight back against Chatham County.” The group’s Web site, which conflates Latinos and illegal immigrants, contains unsubstantiated claims that Latinos carry diseases, and lists “8 ways that illegals make you sick.” One graphic features an upside-down American flag, with a Mexican flag hoisted above it, and the caption, “Have you had enough of this?”
In a statement, Lucier said the group’s e-mails had “effectively undermined the efforts of CCV and local residents to have a civil discussion about various issues.”
A joint study by the UNC Law School and the ACLU of North Carolina, released today, has found the federal 287(g) program to be overly costly; riddled with Constitutional and state law violations; and “an ineffective means of immigration enforcement.” In particular, the study found that, instead of targeting violent criminals, law enforcement agencies participating in 287(g)–which deputizes local officers to act as federal immigration agents–have sought to “purge towns and cities of ‘unwelcome’ immigrants” by racially profiling Latinos at traffic stops, and in pre-textual detentions and arrests. This Constitutional violation, the study found, has the counterproductive effect of marginalizing a vulnerable population, encouraging further harassment and civil rights violations, and discouraging the reporting of actual crimes.
Furthermore, the federal program–which the City of Durham, and Alamance, Mecklenburg, Wake, and four other North Carolina counties have joined–lacks proper oversight, transparency, and guidelines for state and federal funding, the study found. For example, in 2007, the North Carolina State legislature gave $750,000 to the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association for an immigration training project. Other than travel reimbursements, the allocation provided “no language or standards that regulate or provide for oversight or monitoring as to how the money should be spent or how agencies are accountable for the expenditure of these funds.” The NCSA used some of the money to participate in 287(g) programs, without review by the Governor’s Crime Commission, as has been standard procedure for state funding.
The study found that such lack of oversight and transparency has led, in part, to poor leadership and misinformation by state agencies entrusted with pursuing immigration enforcement strategy. In 2007, NCSA adopted a resolution that “perpetuates many myths and misinformation about immigration populations,” the study found. In addition to calling for a reduction to immigrant populations–both legal and illegal–the resolution included unsubstantiated claims that terrorists were crosing the U.S.-Mexico border, and that “illegal alien invaders” (the resolution’s term for illegal immigrants) drain public resources, and don’t pay taxes, none of which has been credibly proven.
The two commiserated over getting “burnt” by the media, and Bizzell indicated he intends to amp up immigration enforcement, just as the ACLU investigates charges of racial profiling. “Now it’s really about turning up the heat, man,” he told Dumas.
Today, The News & Observer looks at a lawsuit alleging ethnic bias by the Johnston County Board of Commissioners, who denied a zoning permit to allow the non-profit Tri-County Community Health Council to build a low-cost health-care clinic in a remote area of the county. Tri-County provides comprehensive medical care to a largely Latino clientele who lack insurance, relieving the burden on local hospitals to provide emergency services. The lawsuit, filed in March, points to comments made by the Johnston board–which has stood by County Sheriff Steve Bizzell following his comments that “Mexicans are trashy”–shortly before denying the permit:
Before the vote, Commissioner Ray Woodall was one of several board members to question whether a petition with more than 1,000 signatures in support of the clinic included neighbors of the proposed site. Of the signatures with nearby addresses, Woodall said “many of the surnames made me wonder if they are renters or actual owners in that area.” Most of the names in the area are Hispanic.
We’ve been following John McCain’s misleading, and factually inaccurate, claims for awhile now, so this shouldn’t come as a sorpresa: He’s also lying in Spanish.
In a new Spanish-language campaign ad, a narrator says that “Obama and his allies in Congress say they are on the side of immigrants,” while an image of hopeful looking Latinos flashes on screen along with the text, “On Our Side?”
“But they aren’t,” the narrator tells us. “Reports in the press have said that their efforts were like poisonous pills that made immigration reform fail. The result: no to a guest-worker program, a path to citizenship and secure borders. The reform did not pass.”
“Is this ‘on our side?’” the narrator asks, with pictures of Sens. Harry Reid, Christopher Dodd and Patrick Leahy.
“Obama and his allies in Congress: ready to block immigration reform. But they are not ready to govern.”
Hay un problema: Obama voted with McCain to end debate and vote on the immigration reform bill. So did Reid, Dodd and Leahy.
Outrageous comments Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell made to News & Observer reporter Kristin Collins are catching up to him now. Sunday’s feature, “Tolerance wears thin,” quoted Bizzell referring to Latino immigrants as “drunk Mexicans” who “rape, rob and murder,” “are trashy” and “[breed] like rabbits.”
DWI checkpoints, driver’s license checkpoints, arrests, jail bookings, and information pertaining to whether the County has fully complied with North Carolina state law that prohibits racial or ethnic profiling by law enforcement. The ACLU-NCLF and other local civil rights groups allege that Sheriff Bizzell’s statements in the September 7th article constitute direct evidence of racial discrimination and hostility toward Latino citizens and residents of Johnston County.
That’s clearly not going to satisfy those who were horrified by his racist statements. As recent president of the N.C. Sheriffs’ Association, Bizzell has influenced the growing trend toward anti-immigration policing and rhetoric across the state.
On Monday, former U.S. Senate candidate Jim Neal posted to the blog Daily Kos comparing Bizzell to Bull Conner, the Selma, Ala. sheriff who unleashed dogs and fire hoses on protesters during the 1960s. Neal put out an “S.O.S.” to liberal bloggers and readers, asking them to pressure state officials to fire Bizzell — and current political candidates to denounce him.
We’ll be curious to see whether Bizzell’s name comes up during tonight’s gubernatorial debate between Democrat Beverly Perdue and Republican Pat McCrory, both of whom have been beating the anti-immigration drum throughout the campaign.
The Daily Tar Heel editorial board makes a bold, if quixotic, attempt today to silence a recent slew of hateful, anti-immigrant commenters (one of whom compared immigrants to “leeches” and “parasites,” who coincidentally also helped build this country, before human life formed)–by quoting two in an editorial, thus giving the purveyors of unsolicited bigotry quite possibly their first writing credit in print, or above the words, “Post a Comment.”
From the Tar Heel:
Immigration is a heated and emotional issue on both sides. But that in no way justifies the hateful speech that can be found on the comment board. These comments do nothing to advance the debate in a legitimate way.
De Acuerdo! But if you’re going to write immigration stories, get used to it. Otherwise, you’re just “aiding and abetting the leeches.” The commenters, I mean.
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Steven Storch
Magistrate, Durham, NC
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