MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — A move to give ICE agents access to prisoners in the Mecklenburg County Jail is gaining steam in the General Assembly.
The 287g program lets immigration officials check the status of prisoners, but the new Mecklenburg County sheriff decided to part ways with the program.
Now, lawmakers are trying to reverse that by making participation mandatory.
Since taking over as Mecklenburg County Sheriff, Garry McFadden and several other sheriffs have refused to comply with 287g.
Caldwell County's Representative Destin Hall is pushing back.
"The sheriffs in our state have always done this voluntarily and it was only until very recently that folks on the left decided that they wanted to take on an open border policy that this has become an issue," Hall said.
Hall said the bill is simple. Supporters of the bill believe it would keep dangerous people from reentering the community after being arrested.
"It typically deals with illegal aliens who have been charged with a crime in North Carolina and are housed in one of our county jails," Hall said.
The measure would compel sheriffs to detain arrestees so ICE could check on their status.
Sheriff McFadden says lawmakers never spoke to him or other sheriffs about the bill, written with input from ICE, before introducing it.
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