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Here's a big ol' story I have been working on for quite a long time, about the rise of progressive sheriffs—especially on immigration enforcement, and especially in North Carolina. I think this is a really important topic: theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/… (1/?)
Sheriffs play an incredibly important, and I think underappreciated, role in American life and law enforcement. In rural counties, they ARE the law; in urban ones, they control jails, which are a huge part of the criminal justice system. (2)
When people think about sheriffs, they tend to think of grizzled, conservative, law-and-order white guys. And for the most part, that is right! A study in 2015 found that sheriffs are 95 percent white and 99 percent male. (3)
That impression is reinforced by the prominence of people former Sheriffs Joe Arpaio and David Clarke, and by stories about conservative "constitutional sheriffs," who were explored in this excellent piece last year: newyorker.com/magazine/2018/… (4)
In the last couple years, there's been a lot of focus on the rise of progressive DAs like @Krasner4DA and @Deberry4DA. What I think we're going to start hearing more about is the rise of progressive sheriffs. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/… (5)
There's a funny tension here: Because sheriffs are so law-and-order, it's a weird locus for reform, and many of the groups working to elect more progressive sheriffs are essentially police abolitionists. But for now, that weird coalition has found some success. For example... (6)
Last November, North Carolina's 7 biggest counties all elected African American sheriffs, several of them for the first time. They largely ran on progressive platforms, especially relating to improving jail conditions and not cooperating with ICE. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/… (7)
That's a big deal in part because North Carolina has historically been the epicenter of the 287(g) program, which deputizes local law-enforcement to help ICE screen for unauthorized immigrants in jails. (8)
These new sheriffs, most prominently led by Garry McFadden of Mecklenburg County (Charlotte), have dropped out of 287(g) programs and said they will not honor ICE detainers. They say they want a warrant from ICE if they're being asked to hold anyone. (9)
In some ways, this a classic flexing of a sheriff's power, and it's exactly what they were elected on. Sheriffs are unusual in that they answer to voters, and this is what voters in these NC counties wanted. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/… (10)
But it's also a major change, and it's created tension between the sheriff's offices and ICE, which has blasted McFadden for making Mecklenburg County less safe, and the NCGA, which has sought to force them to cooperate with ice. (11) #ncpol
North Carolina has consistently been a bellwether for major trends in the U.S. in recent years, and what happens here could be an important sign for what's to come in criminal justice reform and immigration enforcement nationwide. (12) #ncpol theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
Anyway, I think this is a fascinating, important, and underappreciated topic, and I hope you'll give it a read: theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/… (13)
P.S.: A special shout-out to @amandamull, without whom I, a slob, would have been powerless to describe Garry McFadden's outfit theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
