North Carolina, Raleigh – “It doesn’t do anything good for our community,” says Mecklenburg County’s first African-American sheriff, Gary McFadden, in this interview, where he also explains why the measure undermines community trust with local police and how, instead of building bridges, it creates more inequalities. 

McFadden was one of the first sheriffs in the state to complete the 287g program. In this case in Mecklenburg County, which has one of the largest Latino populations in North Carolina. Today, more than 4 years later, he leads the group of sheriffs who are against the new project HB 10, which would force local police to collaborate and implement federal immigration policies. 

El Sheriff McFadden It is number 45 in Mecklenburg County where Charlotte, the largest city in North Carolina, is located. He was first elected in 2018 after serving more than 40 years with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. He is currently serving his second term. Additionally, he is the first African-American sheriff in the history of that county.

HB 10 requires sheriffs to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Here the interview.

Enlace Latino NC (ELNC): What is the main reason why you oppose HB 10? 

Sheriff Gary McFadden:  Well, mostly it doesn't do anything good for our community. And I say that because I want everyone who lives here, residents or citizens, to be able to report crimes and also witness crimes and support the criminal justice system. And I think this brings a lot of fear to many of our families, and this hurts us because we want everyone to be able to report crimes. But we also want strong defenders of the law. So if you are afraid of reporting crimes and also being a victim of crime, that hurts us in law enforcement. And that's my perspective on it. And it brings a lot of fear to the community. 

So some people might witness crimes, but with fear of deportation, then they might say, well, I'm not going to report that or I'm not going to witness that, and that creates a problem. 

Second, that this bill requires us, as a local sheriff, to cooperate with ICE. We cooperate with ICE now,  because if a person is arrested, we give that information to ICE, and it's up to ICE to do what it needs to do after that, not the local government. So it also takes our resources away from our local agencies. 

But above all, it damages the trust we want our community to have with law enforcement. We want our community to trust law enforcement. We want to build relationships with them. And believe it or not, we want to make friends with our community. So these things damage our relationships, friendship. But above all, it also damages the trust that people have in law enforcement. So we want to build these bridges instead of building a wall. And we think that HB ten is a wall between two communities. 

ELNC: How do you think HB 10 will affect the Latino community in your county if it becomes law? 

Sheriff Gary McFadden  :  I know that it affects the Latino community and that bothers me a lot, because as I said, we want to try to build bridges with the community. We want to allow the community to teach us, that we can learn from the community and that the community can learn from us. We want to build that relationship with the Latino community.  

But it's hard when you have something like this that absolutely scares the Latino community and brings fear to them. And that's why I strongly oppose and always will oppose HB 10. I don't think it's a good thing for North Carolina.

ELNC:  You and other sheriffs, mostly African American, ended the 287g program in your communities. Do you believe that this project is retaliation against the sheriffs who decided not to collaborate with ICE?  

Sheriff Gary McFadden : Yes. I got rid of 287 the first day I was in office and of course I was attacked for it and others were attacked for it too. But I still say it's the right thing to do, I still believe I did the right thing. And I know we were attacked, but at the time I didn't care. I did what I believed was good for my community. I think I have done what was good for my state. 

I know this because my relationship with the Latino community, the Latinos, the Hispanic community, is much better now: they are part of my community here, they are part of those who work to make this great city. So I think bringing fear and breaking down community trust is going to hurt our city. So I will always be opposed to something like that.

ELNC: We know that HB 10 is likely to become law in the coming days or weeks. What are your next steps as sheriff if that ultimately happens? 

Sheriff Gary McFadden  :  We do not know. Nobody knows what is going to happen. And I don't think the people who created HB 10 know what's going to happen. They haven't talked to us. They haven't had a meeting with us. They just created HB 10 and said, This is what we're going to do and this is how we're going to make it work. But they haven't spoken to the bailiffs. They haven't had a conversation with the sheriff. 

I did have a conversation with ICE to see what they are going to do. And they can't understand why these local politicians in North Carolina are forcing this issue. They have not spoken to ICE either. They do not have ICE approval. And I know this because I've talked to ICE and they said they don't know why these guys are trying to break up or bring this issue back. 

ELNC: So what can be done, how can you oppose HB 10? 

Sheriff Gary McFadden : We have to figure it out, but we can't understand why local politicians are concerned about federal issues and not state and local issues. They should focus on state and local issues rather than federal issues. So we don't know how it's going to work. Nobody knows how it will work. And that's why they impose this law on us and force local sheriffs to do this. 

But I think we need to build these bridges because I'm happy and I want my community to be happy. But I don't want my community to live in fear, but I want my community to trust the sheriff's office and we want to build that friendship. 

ELNC: Finally, would you like to leave a message to the Latin community through us? 

Sheriff Gary McFadden : Yes, just to add, if you want me to go speak to the community, we are here. We don't want our Latino community, we don't want anyone to be afraid of the sheriff's office. We want to build that relationship. I want to tell you not to be afraid of the sheriff's deputies. They understand our position. They understand our mission. And we want to be a community rather than a divided community. And whatever we need to do to make that happen, please let us know and we'll try to make it happen.

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Sheriff Gary McFadden: “HB 10 is a wall between communities”

by Patricia Serrano, Enlace Latino NC
May 16, 2023

Enlace Latino NC May 16, 2023 North Carolina, Raleigh - "It doesn't do anything good for our community," says Mecklenburg County's first African-American sheriff, Gary McFadden, in this interview, where he also explains why the measure undermines community trust with local police and how, instead of building bridges, it creates more inequalities. McFadden was one of the first sheriffs in the state to end the 287g program, in this case in Mecklenburg County, which has one of the largest Latino populations in North Carolina. Today, more than four years later, he leads the group of sheriffs who oppose the new HB 10 bill , which would require local police forces to collaborate and implement federal immigration policies. Sheriff McFadden is the 45th sheriff in Mecklenburg County, home to Charlotte, North Carolina's largest city. He was first elected in 2018 after serving more than 40 years with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. He is currently serving his second term. He is also the first African-American sheriff in the county's history. HB 10 requires sheriffs to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Here's the interview. The Mecklenburg County Sheriff has strongly opposed House Bill 10, which he considers dangerous and unnecessary. Enlace Latino NC(ELNC): What is the main reason why you oppose HB 10? Sheriff Gary McFadden: Well, it mostly doesn't do anything good for our community. And I say that because I want everyone who lives here, residents or citizens, to be able to report crimes and also witness crimes and support the criminal justice system. And I think this brings a lot of fear to many of our families, and this hurts us because we want everyone to be able to report crimes. But we also want strong defenders of the law. So if you are afraid to report crimes and also to be a victim of crime, that hurts us in law enforcement. And that's my perspective on it. And it brings a lot of fear to the community. So some people might witness crimes, but they're afraid of deportation, so they might say, well, I'm not going to report that or I'm not going to witness that, and that creates a problem. Secondly, this bill requires us, as local sheriffs, to cooperate with ICE. We cooperate with ICE now, because if a person is arrested, we give that information to ICE, and it's up to ICE to do what they need to do after that, not the local government. So it also takes our resources away from our local agencies. But most of all, it damages the trust we want our community to have in law enforcement. We want our community to have confidence in law enforcement. We want to build relationships with them. And believe it or not, we want to make friends with our community. So these things damage our relationships, our friendship. But above all, it also damages the trust that people have in law enforcement. So we want to build these bridges instead of building a wall. And we think that HB ten is a wall between two communities. ELNC: How do you think HB 4 will affect the Latino community in your county if it becomes law? Sheriff Gary McFadden : I know that it affects the Latino community and that bothers me a lot, because as I said, we want to try to build bridges with the community. We want to allow the community to teach us, that we can learn from the community and that the community can learn from us. We want to build that relationship with the Latino community. But it's difficult when you have something like this that absolutely scares the Latino community and brings fear to them. And that is why I strongly oppose and will always oppose HB 10. I don't think it's a good thing for North Carolina. ELNC: You and other sheriffs, mostly African-American women, completed the 4g program in your communities. Do you think this project is retaliation against sheriffs who decided not to cooperate with ICE? Sheriff Gary McFadden : Yes. I got rid of 287 on my first day in office and of course I was attacked for that and others were attacked for that as well. But I still say it's the right thing to do, I still believe I did the right thing. And I know we were attacked, but at that moment I didn't care. I did what I thought was good for my community. I think I've done what was good for my state. I know this because my relationship with the Latino community, the Latinos, the Hispanic community, is much better now: they are part of my community here, they are part of those who work to make this great city. So I think bringing fear and breaking down community trust is going to hurt our city. So I will always be opposed to something like that. ELNC: We know that HB 4 may become law in the coming days or weeks. What are your next steps as sheriff if that eventually happens? Sheriff Gary McFadden : We don't know. Nobody knows what will happen. And I don't think the people who created HB 10 know what's going to happen. They haven't talked to us. They have not had a meeting with us. They just created HB 10 and said, This is what we're going to do and this is how we're going to make it work. But they haven't spoken to the bailiffs. They have not had a conversation with the sheriff. I did have a conversation with ICE to see what they are going to do. And they can't understand why these local politicians in North Carolina are forcing this issue. They haven't talked to ICE either. They do not have ICE approval. And I know this because I've talked to ICE and they said they don't know why these guys are trying to divide or bring this problem back. ELNC: So what can be done, how can we oppose HB 4? Sheriff Gary McFadden : We need to figure this out, but we can't understand why local politicians are concerned with federal issues and not state and local issues. They should focus on state and local issues rather than federal issues. So we don't know how it's going to work. Nobody knows how it will work. And that's why they put this law on us and force local sheriffs to do this. But I think we need to build these bridges because I am happy and I want my community to be happy. But I don't want my community to live in fear, but I want my community to trust the sheriff's office and we want to build that friendship. ELNC: Finally, would you like to leave a message for the Latino community through us? Sheriff Gary McFadden : Yeah, just to add, if you want me to go speak to the community, we're here. We don't want our Latino community, we don't want anyone to be afraid of the sheriff's office. We want to build that relationship. I want to tell you not to be afraid of the sheriff's deputies. They understand our position. They understand our mission. And we want to be one community rather than a divided community. And whatever we need to do to make that happen, please let us know and we'll try to make it happen. This article first appeared onEnlace Latino NCand is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License . PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: "https://enlacelatinonc.org/alguacil-gary-mcfadden-la-hb-10-es-un-muro-entre-las-comunidades/", urlref: window.location.href }); } }

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