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‘New Normal’ ICE Action Leads To At Least 200 Detentions In North Carolina

WUNC News | By Frank Stasio,
Amanda Magnus
Published February 13, 2019 at 12:52 PM EST
The 287(g) program allows a partnership between local law enforcement and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Wikimedia Commons
The 287(g) program allows a partnership between local law enforcement and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Last week U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained at least 200 people in enforcement actions around the state. Officials raided a gun manufacturing plant in Sanford and arrested people at traffic stop check points in various cities. 

Frank Stasio talks about ICE in North Carolina with Rewire.News immigration reporter Tina Vasquez.

Atlanta field officer director Sean Gallagher oversees ICE’s operations in the Carolinas and in Georgia, and he told journalists at a press conference that the increased enforcement is a direct consequence of county sheriffs’ choice to not cooperate with the agency.

In December, sheriffs in Durham, Mecklenburg, and Wake counties all ended their cooperation with ICE. Host Frank Stasio talks about this “new normal” with Tina Vasquez, a senior reporter on immigration for Rewire.News.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this post incorrectly described the traffic stops as "random."

Copyright 2019 North Carolina Public Radio
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio
Amanda Magnus
Amanda Magnus grew up in Maryland and went to high school in Baltimore. She became interested in radio after an elective course in the NYU journalism department. She got her start at Sirius XM Satellite Radio, but she knew public radio was for her when she interned at WNYC. She later moved to Madison, where she worked at Wisconsin Public Radio for six years. In her time there, she helped create an afternoon drive news magazine show, called Central Time. She also produced several series, including one on Native American life in Wisconsin. She spends her free time running, hiking, and roller skating. She also loves scary movies.
See stories by Amanda Magnus