ICE agents in North Carolina arrest hundreds of immigrants

February 8, 2019

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Hundreds of immigrants in the U.S. illegally were arrested this week in North Carolina after some local law agencies stopped cooperating with immigration enforcement, a federal official said Friday.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement regional director Sean Gallagher said the arrests resulted from what he termed “the dangerous policies of not cooperating with ICE,” The Charlotte Observer reported.

“This is politics over public safety at its worst,” Gallagher said at a news conference. It’s a change, he said, that gave the agency “no choice” but to conduct targeted enforcement operations like the one this week.

ICE officers have detained 200 people in North Carolina this week. Another 25 were detained at an arms manufacturer in Sanford. Gallagher said more such arrests are likely when ICE is restricted from accessing county jails.

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