Some commissioners call for ICE to thwart disruptive activists at meeting tonight

Rumors that immigrant activists might try to disrupt Tuesday night’s Mecklenburg County commission meeting have prompted calls for added security at the government center, including some who think federal immigration agents should be there.

County commission Vice Chairman Jim Puckett sent out an email early Tuesday saying he’d heard rumors that the same immigrant activists who created chaos at a city council meeting last week will try to do it again.

Puckett called for adding extra sheriff’s deputies tonight, and even calling in federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to “maintain a proper level of civil discourse.”

“I think that the presence of ICE agents might have a calming effect on anyone who is passionate, illegal and willing to cross the line of calm and deliberative public engagement,” said Puckett in an email.

“So yes I wouldn’t have any problem with ICE agents (being) present along with any other appropriate law enforcement to answer any questions and maintain an appropriate level of civil discourse.”

County Manager Dena Diorio said at midday that she did not have any plan to beef up security at the meeting.

County officials legitimate reasons to be concerned due to increasingly bold tactics by activists seeking to keep ICE from arresting and deporting people in the country illegally.

The Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office has been among their biggest targets, because of its participation in a federal program that alerts ICE when someone arrested for a crime is not legally in the country. That program, called 287(g), resulted in about 100 people being deported from Mecklenburg County last year.

County commission member Bill James said he supports the idea of inviting federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the meeting. “It isn’t like ICE has to be invited to come. It is a public building and meeting. They can come and take all the pictures they want to,” said James in an email.

Bryan Cox, a spokesman for ICE in the region, said it was up to local officials to police their own meetings, and he declined to comment on the possibility of having agents on site.

Commission member George Dunlap said in an email that he doesn’t agree with the idea of suggesting ICE agents be on hand, because it could thwart free speech.

“While I agree that our meeting should be orderly, I disagree with using ICE as a tactic to prevent people from expressing themselves,” Dunlap said in an email.

Bill James said either way, the county should increase the number of deputies and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police at the meeting.

“I agree that we need to avoid a repeat of the City Council’s debacle...We need enough deputy sheriff’s (or CMPD) to expel any unruly people as needed. Clearly, those that showed up at the City Council were unruly and out of line,” James said in an email.

“If we allow this group to do what they did at the City Council, we will be setting an inappropriate standard for other groups who will want the same lenience and ability to disrupt.”

Another possibility, he said, is for the commission to adjourn to another room in the building to conclude business “though I would rather the Commission stood our ground.

This story was originally published March 7, 2017 at 12:54 PM with the headline "Some commissioners call for ICE to thwart disruptive activists at meeting tonight."