In Support of Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller

This topic was originally to be for 5th Sunday 12/29/2019.

Sheriff Quentin Miller announced in February, 2019 that he would no longer honor ICE detainers without a valid criminal warrant. Detainers — administrative requests that are issued under federal regulations and are not associated with criminal charges — ask local law enforcement agencies to hold inmates suspected of being in the country illegally for up to two days after they would normally be released.

Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller refused to honor an ICE detainer request for Marvin Torres.  First-time illegal entry into the U.S. is treated as a civil offense, and Torres had no other outstanding criminal charges. 

The case has attracted national attention, with Republican Sen. Thom Tillis issuing his own statement that charged Miller and other North Carolina sheriffs with “dereliction of their duty” for denying ICE detainers. Earlier in the day, Tillis and other Republican lawmakers had introduced the Immigration Detainer Enforcement Act, which they said “will help stop sanctuary cities” by cutting some federal funds for jurisdictions that do not comply with ICE requests.