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Mecklenburg County deputies helped federal immigration officials arrest a person at the courthouse Wednesday morning, according to Sheriff Garry McFadden.
McFadden met with Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week.
He requested the meeting and sat down with the agency’s regional representatives on Oct. 17 with a goal of “establishing a better working relationship and improve communication,” he said in a statement Friday.
“I made it clear that I do not want to stop ICE from doing their job, but I do want them to do it safely, responsibly, and with proper coordination by notifying our agency ahead of time,” he said. “I’m proud to say that the meeting was productive.”
On Tuesday night, he said ICE officials reached out to the courthouse major and said they planned to arrest two people the following morning.
“Our staff provided directions and access to ensure the arrests could take place safely and efficiently,” McFadden said. “The operation went smoothly and was well-coordinated, incident-free, and demonstrated exactly the kind of partnership we’ve been requesting for years.”
ICE ended up only making one arrest because the other person did not show up for court, McFadden’s statement said.
Since North Carolina’s lawmakers passed House Bill 318, local law enforcement agencies are officially required to reestablish relationships with ICE. It requires them to tell immigration authorities when they are holding someone sought on an ICE detainer or administrative warrant.
But in May, McFadden said he had been doing that, and the bill would fail to fix the issue of transferring undocumented people with pending state charges to ICE custody for civil immigration proceedings.
McFadden criticized ICE in February for not picking up people Mecklenburg police identified as undocumented within the legal timeframe, which led him to release many from detention.
He also raised concern about the ICE operations happening within the county without his knowledge.
In April, an attorney said he saw a person arrested at the Mecklenburg County Courthouse by people in plain clothes who identified themselves as ICE.
Mecklenburg County had a partnership with ICE for many years when it signed a 287(g) agreement in 2006 when the program started, which gives local agencies funding to assist federal immigration enforcement. In the 12 years that agreement was in place,15,000 Mecklenburg residents were deported, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
McFadden signed a letter ending the partnership with ICE hours after he was sworn into office in December of 2018.
“And so now we have to show Charlotte that this is a step in the right direction and I need everybody’s help [to show] Charlotte and the nation that we are doing the right thing,” said McFadden said at the time.
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Caroline King
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