Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney expressed doubts that a controversial law enforcement program used to turn over immigrants for federal deportation proceedings is being applied according to its original intent, the Charlotte Observer reported.
During a “R&D in the QC w/ Tariq and Larken” podcast last week, the hosts questioned Putney about his thoughts on the federal 287(g) program, which deputizes state and local law enforcement officers to help enforce federal immigration laws. The program allows certain state and local law enforcement officials to check federal databases for information regarding arrested individuals in part to ascertain their immigration status. They could then use that information to flag immigrants for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. In these localities, law enforcement departments can choose to honor ICE detainers and detain immigrants who have been charged or convicted for upwards of 48 hours past their release dates on behalf of the federal agency.
Fielding anecdotal concerns that the federal program could lead to an erosion of trust between foreign-born populations and the local law enforcement agency, Putney gave a diplomatic answer that underscored the need to ensure the federal program was being used “as it was designed.”
“The intent was to make sure we’re taking felons and gang members who are violent out of play,” Putney said. “If you apply that specific to those reasons, I think you’d have a totally different outcome. If you’re asking everybody about their national origin, I think it’s a different application. If it were as it was designed, it’s a good tool. I don’t think it’s being applied that way.”
Sheriff Irwin Carmichael, a Democrat who’s up for reelection, has defended the use of the 287(g) program, which has been in place in Mecklenburg County since 2006. Carmichael previously insisted that the program doesn’t target people on the basis of their race or ethnicity. But critics of the program say the program could lead to people with simple misdemeanors being targeted.
As the Observer reported, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency encountered 1,307 people through the 287(g) program from Mecklenburg County Jail last year. Of those individuals, 901 had prior criminal convictions while 406 did not.
A 12-year longitudinal study also found that Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers disproportionately make more traffic stops with Black and Latinx drivers than with white drivers.
One of the podcast hosts was inclined to dismiss the “anecdotal” reasons that critics have for dismantling the program. However, there is strong nationwide data from law enforcement departments and immigrant advocacy groups that show immigrants have been less inclined to report crimes to police departments that collaborate with federal immigration authorities.
Retired homicide detective Garry McFadden, who’s running for Mecklenburg County sheriff and has began to work part-time, cited his own caseload in criticizing the 287(g) program.
“There’s no trust, there’s no loyalty, so why should they come and talk to us?” McFadden asked earlier this month. “They’re afraid that if I talk to them about a case, they will be arrested.”
A 2017 Advocate and Legal Service Survey Regarding Immigrant Survivors found “78 percent of advocates reported that immigrant survivors expressed concerns about contacting police.” And across the country, Latinx populations appear to be reporting fewer crimes since President Donald Trump took office. As soon as he took his oath of office, the president signed a series of executive order giving broad authority to federal agents to detain and deport immigrants.