Right to bail may be taken

An N.C. bill that denies undocumented immigrants the right to bail could add to the already controversial steps taken by the state to control crimes by illegal immigrants.

The No Bail for Certain Illegal Aliens bill proposed Monday by N.C. Reps. Justin Burr (R-Stanly) and Pearl Burris-Floyd (R-Gaston) would deny bail for illegal immigrants who are charged with sex offenses drug trafficking gang related offenses" violent felony charges or driving offenses.

""I see too many times that they get off on bail and don't show up for their trial"" Burr said. (The bill) seems to be the only way to get them to show up.""

The bill" which still must be passed by committee and the General Assembly is designed to help sheriff offices enforce federal immigration laws by alerting federal authorities of detained illegal immigrants.

But Deborah Weissman a professor and director of clinical programs at the UNC School of Law" said that ""denying a certain class of people their right to bail violates due process" the Fifth Amendment" the Sixth and the Eighth Amendment.""

 She said there has been misinformation about immigration in North Carolina. Some studies have shown that in counties with a high influx of immigrants" the crime rate is lower.

Also" there have been cases in which legal immigrants were erroneously arrested and deported by local officials.

""Even if it happens to one person" it's more than enough" she said.

Marty Rosenbluth, an immigration attorney for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, said that often illegal immigrants do not attend state trial not because they have fled, but because they have been detained by federal authorities.

I think the real problem with this bill is that it is yet another attempt to have state be involved in federal law" which the Supreme Court has said over and over again is unconstitutional" he said.

Rosenbluth said 66 percent of illegal immigrants are arrested for smaller crimes, such as driving offenses, for which the bill would also deny them the right to bail.

This is exactly the same as the various local ordinances that bar illegal aliens from jobs and public schools"" he said.

Denying illegal immigrants bail will close the loophole in a program by allowing local officials to start deportation procedures without the risk of the immigrants fleeing, Burris-Floyd said, mirroring a recently implemented program in Chapel Hill called Secure Communities.

We are still looking at how to craft it so it is considered constitutional" Burris-Floyd said. But if a person is illegal" then on what grounds are they standing?""


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