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York County Sheriff's Office conduct forum, discuss detaining illegal immigrants

YORK COUNTY, S.C. — The York County Sheriff's Office conducted a public forum to talk about detaining illegal immigrants.

The Sheriff's Office said the purpose of the forum was to discuss the success of the 287 (g) program, which allows deputies to run inmates names through immigration databases to determine if they're undocumented.

It starts with deputies asking each person they arrested if they are an American citizens.

If they are not, they are entered into the program, in which they answer more questions that go to federal immigration officers.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials answered questions about the program.

"287 (g) does not grant local law enforcement any additional arrest authority, so if a person is encountered by this program, it means they have committed a criminal act, they have been arrested for that criminal act and transported to the facility,” said Bryan Cox, a spokesman for ICE.

Activists marched from York to the detention center in Rock Hill on Monday to demand that the sheriff stop collaborating with ICE.

The rally by Action NC and Witness for Peace was part of their pilgrimage for justice and peace during Holy Week.

Those same activists then headed to Charlotte, where ICE has been accused of cracking down on immigrants who have not committed any crimes.

ICE told Channel 9 that it does not conduct widespread raids or sweeps and mostly targets criminals and people who have been deported at least once before.

The Mecklenburg County sheriff said last month that his office has not seen an increase in the number of people processed through the 287 (g) program since President Trump took office.

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