Charlotte police stage traffic checkpoint in immigrant community. The top offense?

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police conducted a traffic safety checkpoint along one of Charlotte’s so called “international corridors” over night, and they found the top offense was people driving without a license.

Over a four-hour period, officers ticketed 25 people driving without a license in the 4900 block of Central Avenue, which is home to one of the city’s largest blocks of Hispanic immigrants. Nine people were ticketed for driving without a car registration and inspection.

Immigrant advocates have cited such checkpoints as one way Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police “harass” immigrants. People who are not legally in the country are not allowed to get a driver’s license in North Carolina, and therefore drive without one. In April, an immigrant advocacy group presented a list of demands to Charlotte and Mecklenburg County officials, and among the demands was an end to all CMPD motor vehicle checkpoints.

In Mecklenburg County, experts estimate as many as 54,000 people are living illegally. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reports the top crime committed by undocumented people in the U.S. is driving without a license.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police have a policy of not asking the citizenship status of people caught driving without a license, which some critics believe allows undocumented immigrants to get back behind the wheel.

Earlier this week, an undocumented immigrant in Charlotte was charged with involuntary manslaughter and driving without a license after she caused an accident that killed a 14-month-old baby girl. The driver, Dora Del Carmen Sosa, is a Honduran national and had been ordered to be removed from the United States by a federal immigration judge in September 2005.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police stage traffic checkpoints regularly on major thoroughfares throughout the city, mostly over night when drunk driving is more likely.

Thursday’s police checkpoint operated from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. Friday, and used a mobile breath testing bus. The checkpoint is part of a police operation to keep roads safe from drunk drivers during the holiday season. Another checkpoint will be staged Friday night, police said.

Among the offenses recorded during the operation on Central Avenue:

No driver's license: 25

Driving while intoxicated: 10

Having an open container of alcohol: 2

Driving with a suspended license: 10

This story was originally published December 8, 2017 at 6:26 AM with the headline "Charlotte police stage traffic checkpoint in immigrant community. The top offense?."