Beat the rush, self-deport.
Via WBTV:
Last week, immigrants and activists in Charlotte lit into Charlotte City Council and Mayor Vi Lyles in particular for not doing enough amid stepped-up federal enforcement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
On Monday, Lyles said she heard the community’s concerns and issued a new letter that she hopes will address them. But it remains to be seen whether backlash over the council’s perceived inactivity will persist.
Since Mecklenburg County Sheriff Gary McFadden discontinued cooperation with ICE inside county jails, ICE officials have said they have no choice but to step up their enforcement on the street. That’s led to fear in the immigrant community about more aggressive enforcement measures.
“I do feel like it’s appropriate as mayor, with council’s acknowledgment, that we do something,” Lyles said Monday. She had previously set up an ad hoc committee of council members to listen to and conduct outreach to the city’s immigrant communities.
At last week’s public forum, Lyles was criticized for not signing a letter that seven other mayors in North Carolina endorsed, condemning the ICE enforcement efforts. The letter said “raids have struck terror in the hearts of many.”
Lyles said the stories she heard last week led her to issue her own letter.
“While difficult to hear, the impact of their voices left an indelible image for all our city,” Lyles said in the letter, which she read aloud Monday. “We know of the economic loss experienced by the business community and the trauma of children concerned about the welfare of their parents. We know the immigrant community contributes to the workforce that drives our success.”
She also emphasized that the city of Charlotte and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police aren’t working with ICE or other federal aw agencies on immigration enforcement. Council member Braxton Winston had questioned whether CMPD sobriety checkpoints in areas with many immigrants could be conflated with ICE checkpoints and stir up more fear.
Tera Long, who spoke before the council at last week’s meeting, said that she saw the letter from Lyles as “kind of a meeting halfway.”
Long said a resolution from the entire city council condemning ICE — much like the one Mecklenburg County Commission voted unanimously to put out — would have been the best outcome.
“But I’m very happy that she’s working and she’s making our immigrant community look positive in this letter,” she said.