A small town sheriff who allegedly refers to Latinos as ?taco-eaters? has been under federal investigation for his questionable approach to fighting immigration.
In Graham, North Carolina, Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson has been the subject of a two-year investigation ? released in September ? by the Justice Department. Investigators found that Sheriff Johnson and his deputies had violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by engaging ?in a pattern or practice of discriminatory policing against Latinos.?
Since the investigation?s release, federal officials have canceled a federal-county immigration policing program and IndyWeek reports that Almanace?s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has dropped several deportation cases.
Alamanace County is home to 17,000 Latinos, with whites making up only 66 percent of the population. In the last two decades, the Latino population has grown dramatically ? in a town where whites were 80 percent of the population in 1990. Many say that Latinos are drawn to Graham, North Carolina because of low-cost housing and its proximity to construction and service-sector jobs in Raleigh, Durham and Greensboro. According to the LA Times, this shift in demographics has divided a community.
RELATED: Report: Racial profiling alleged at Boston?airport
During the two-year investigation, federal officials scrutinized policies and traffic data and interviewed hundreds of Alamance community members, including current and former sheriff?s office employees. The DOJ says that Sheriff Johnson had ?an egregious pattern of racial profiling.?
In the report, Johnson refers to Latinos as ?taco-eaters? and ordered deputies to arrest Latino drivers in instances when other drivers only got citations. In fact, data showed that Latino drivers were twice as likely as non-Hispanics to be arrested by Johnson?s deputies during traffic stops and deputies were four to 10 times more likely to stop Latinos rather as opposed to other groups. The report also published a troubling claim that Johnson once said Mexicans don?t mind having sex with 12-year-old girls.
This information has sparked rallies by Latinos who carry signs that say ?We Want Respect? and ?Terry Johnson Stop Lying.? This has also created a face-off against Almanace residents who support Sheriff Johnson.
Sheriff Johnson gave a brief statement where he denied profiling or racist remarks. ?The Obama administration has decided to continue to wage war on local law enforcement,? he wrote.
His lawyer, S.C. Kitchen, says his client will not give interviews because of ?a threat of litigation.? Kitchen sent a letter to the Justice Department accusing it of ?a libelous political attack? that is ?full of factual inaccuracies ? based on newspaper articles, rumors and gossip.?
When IndyWeek reached out to sheriff?s office spokesman, Randy Jones, he said the DOJ allegations are ?baseless,? and added that federal officials have not contacted his office since the September report. ?If they don?t have anything to hide, why don?t they bring their allegations out?? Jones said.
RELATED:Spotlight on Joe Arpaio as ACLU?s racial profiling lawsuit set to?proceed
Sheriff Johnson is a former state investigator and is serving his third term. In his first campaign, in 2002, the LA Times reports that he ran an ad featuring ?Twilight Zone? music with a voice saying that ?aliens? have ?filled our criminal courtrooms and invaded our schools. They sponge off the American taxpayer by clogging our welfare lines and our hospital emergency rooms.?
That year, Johnson arrested more than 100 Latinos at a local Division of Motor Vehicles office. They were accused of using phony documents to obtain driver?s licenses. In 2004, according to Hannah Gill, a researcher at the University of North Carolina, Johnson proposed that deputies visited the homes of people with Latino surnames to root out voter fraud. And in 2007, the Alamance County Sheriff?s Office joined a federal program that extends federal powers to local police so they can target undocumented immigrants who are accused of committing serious crimes. The DOJ has terminated the program since their investigation.
Spokesman Randy Jones told the LA Times that the sheriff?s department had not changed in the aftermath of the investigation. He said, ?We?re doing everything the same way as before because everything we?ve done has been completely legal.?
Like this:
Be the first to like this.
bachmann iowa caucus results sickle cell trait sugar bowl mild kidney failure presidential candidates celebrity wife swap
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.