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Committee formed to study cost of illegal immigrants
May be defended pro-bono if sued by Civil Liberties Union
By DAN PARSONS and CLAUD HODGES
Washington Daily News Staff
Beaufort County commissioners voted 4-3 Monday night to form a committee to determine local costs of illegal immigrants.
The vote was split on party lines.
The committee will consist of three commissioners — Republicans Stan Deatherage, Al Klemm and Hood Richardson — four members of the Beaufort County Board of Education and one member from each entitlement service involved with the issue.
“It’s important that we know our costs when it comes to illegal immigrants,” Deatherage said. “We want to know the costs of illegal immigrants that are placed on Beaufort County citizens.”
Klemm agreed, but said it would be more instructive to establish a range of costs.
“What Commissioner Deatherage is saying is that this is just a study. It is not set in stone,” Richardson said.
In other business, but still in the illegal-immigration arena, the board opted to study the establishment of an Immigrant and Custom Enforcement (ICE) Retention Center in Beaufort County as it studies the option of building a new county jail. The proposal was brought up by Deatherage during his reserved portion of the agenda.
“We need to consider it when we consider the jail,” board Chairman Jay McRoy said.
Klemm said the county needs to think about taking part in a large, regional ICE facility.
“Sen. (Elizabeth) Dole told me about all of this and it looks like the federal government is going to do its job,” said Deatherage.
Deatherage said it appears federal government officials are going to work with local constituencies when it comes to immigration issues.
“You (Deatherage) haven’t told the people of Beaufort County that Pat Buchanan told you that there’s not anything we can do about it here,” Commissioner Ed Booth said.
Some of the measures passed by the board aimed at curbing illegal immigration in the county have already drawn fire from state and federal agencies. Commissioners received a letter in March from a laundry list of civil-rights watchdog groups protesting the removal of Spanish-language options from county phone systems.
Deatherage mentioned Monday night that he had been contacted by Perry Pendley, a lawyer from New Mexico that has offered to defend the county pro-bono should the county “run afoul” of the American Civil Liberties Union.
No lawsuits have yet been filed by any of the letter’s signatory agencies, and the ACLU had no plans to file suit as of March, according to Katy Parker, legal director for the N.C. branch of the ACLU.
“This is basically an activist group that defends groups that are wrongly sued by the ACLU,” Deatherage told the Daily News on Tuesday. “This firm has researched everything we have done so far and (Pendley) has told me that he feels our actions have passed the constitutional test.”
By DAN PARSONS and CLAUD HODGES
Washington Daily News Staff
Beaufort County commissioners voted 4-3 Monday night to form a committee to determine local costs of illegal immigrants.
The vote was split on party lines.
The committee will consist of three commissioners — Republicans Stan Deatherage, Al Klemm and Hood Richardson — four members of the Beaufort County Board of Education and one member from each entitlement service involved with the issue.
“It’s important that we know our costs when it comes to illegal immigrants,” Deatherage said. “We want to know the costs of illegal immigrants that are placed on Beaufort County citizens.”
Klemm agreed, but said it would be more instructive to establish a range of costs.
“What Commissioner Deatherage is saying is that this is just a study. It is not set in stone,” Richardson said.
In other business, but still in the illegal-immigration arena, the board opted to study the establishment of an Immigrant and Custom Enforcement (ICE) Retention Center in Beaufort County as it studies the option of building a new county jail. The proposal was brought up by Deatherage during his reserved portion of the agenda.
“We need to consider it when we consider the jail,” board Chairman Jay McRoy said.
Klemm said the county needs to think about taking part in a large, regional ICE facility.
“Sen. (Elizabeth) Dole told me about all of this and it looks like the federal government is going to do its job,” said Deatherage.
Deatherage said it appears federal government officials are going to work with local constituencies when it comes to immigration issues.
“You (Deatherage) haven’t told the people of Beaufort County that Pat Buchanan told you that there’s not anything we can do about it here,” Commissioner Ed Booth said.
Some of the measures passed by the board aimed at curbing illegal immigration in the county have already drawn fire from state and federal agencies. Commissioners received a letter in March from a laundry list of civil-rights watchdog groups protesting the removal of Spanish-language options from county phone systems.
Deatherage mentioned Monday night that he had been contacted by Perry Pendley, a lawyer from New Mexico that has offered to defend the county pro-bono should the county “run afoul” of the American Civil Liberties Union.
No lawsuits have yet been filed by any of the letter’s signatory agencies, and the ACLU had no plans to file suit as of March, according to Katy Parker, legal director for the N.C. branch of the ACLU.
“This is basically an activist group that defends groups that are wrongly sued by the ACLU,” Deatherage told the Daily News on Tuesday. “This firm has researched everything we have done so far and (Pendley) has told me that he feels our actions have passed the constitutional test.”
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tunne rat wrote on Jul 6, 2009 8:55 PM:
that is the biggest propganda word that every came out of butterfields and rino jones mouth in the past hundred years .
just 2 water boys for the obama socalist party , and a hand full of red necks that dont have a clue about whast they are talking about . "