Immigration enforcement suspended in Alamance County, North Carolina following racial discrimination findings

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has suspended the Delegation of Immigration Authority (Section 287(g)) program in  Alamance County, North Carolina where the sheriff’s office was found to engage in a pattern of racial discrimination against Latinos. In a comprehensive investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina was found to engage in a practice of discriminatory policing against Latinos.The official findings of the DOJ’s investigation are available at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/September/12-crt-1125.html.

The Justice Department investigation found that Alamance County deputies, under the leadership of Sheriff Terry S. Johnson, made a disproportionate number of unnecessary arrests of members of Hispanics while trying to increase the number of deportations of undocumented immigrants. Among the discriminatory practices that the Justice Department found in Alamance County were the setting up of checkpoints just outside Hispanic neighborhoods and a pronounced tendency to arrest Latinos for minor traffic violation offenses while issuing citations or warnings to non-Latinos for the same violations.

The Justice Department’s investigation conducted in-depth review of ACSO policies, procedures, training materials, and data on traffic stops, arrests, citations, vehicle checkpoints and other documentary evidence. More than 125 people, including local residents and current and former employees in Sheriff’s office were interviewed by the Justice Department investigators.

Click here to read more on the DOJ website…