NC State University police arrests Mexican man, turns him over to ICE
Originally published in Spanish on October 10, 2018 in Qué Pasa Raleigh/Durham as “Policía de universidad NC State arresta a mexicano y lo entrega a ICE.” Qué Pasa is a newspaper and news site for the Latino community of North Carolina.
RALEIGH, NC — Police at NC State University detained a Mexican immigrant and handed him over to agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] after questioning him and discovering he had been previously deported.
The encounter took place on Monday Oct. 1 in a construction site in the Greek Village area and information of it was released officially through a statement two days later on Wednesday afternoon by the police department through Facebook.
“During a routine patrol, an NC State police officer observed an individual leaving an empty building under construction at night. The Police Department was not aware of any work scheduled for this particular building, so the officer conducted a routine interview with the person. When executing the identification of the individual, the officer discovered that he was a delinquent deported previously,” declared the police on the social network.
Identity of the arrested
Bryan Cox, the Southern Region Communications Director of ICE, confirmed with Qué Pasa that the immigration agents arrested and took 32-year-old Elimas Méndez Robledo into custody after being notified by the NC State police. He is presently in U.S. Marshals custody.
Cox indicated that the presence of ICE in the university was limited to the public security center where the university police is located. The agency, he said, “conducted no enforcement activity while on the campus before or after taking Mr. Mendez-Roblero into custody.”
According to Cox, Méndez had been arrested in Durham County in March 2011 for a felony possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. A federal judge ordered his deportation which was executed in May of that year.
Qué Pasa accessed information from the Durham police department indicating that Méndez had also been arrested in 2010 on charges of trafficking cocaine.
Collaboration with ICE
The ICE sensitive locations policy, which remains in effect, provides that immigration enforcement actions at designated sensitive locations, including schools, should generally be avoided. The policy contains an exemption for exigent circumstances, which Cox noted fell under this instance.
Different police departments in the Triangle area have publicly argued on several occasions that they do not collaborate with ICE and that their officers do not act as immigration agents.
However, NC State police affirmed that it is their duty to inform immigration authorities as indicated in the Facebook post after Méndez-Roblero’s arrest.
Currently, ICE maintains a collaboration agreement under the 287(g) program which allows immigration agents to detain arrested criminals in jail after being screened for immigration status. It is in effect in six counties in North Carolina, including Wake County.
Controversy among students
The students of that university learned of the fact the day after the arrest through an automated Twitter bot that tweets police activity through the NC State Police blotter.
The tweet generated numerous responses from students, including students of Latino identity who commented that they were “disgusted” that the university police was collaborating with ICE.
On Facebook, the news reached students through a screenshot of the tweet posted on the popular student discussion group “Wolfpack Students.” The post incited discussion and arguments in the comments about whether or not the university police should have collaborated with ICE.
In an effort to address the issue before concerned students, NC State student body president Jess Errico published a statement on Oct. 4 about the event to clarify information after meeting with university police officers.
She showed her support for the students who had felt affected by the presence of immigration enforcement agents in the university.
“If this situation has made you feel nervous, anxious or angry in any way, please know that you have resources on campus, including myself,” said Errico. She included information from the multicultural student center where many Latino students receive support.
Hours before the statement released by NC State police on Wednesday, news reached students warning that ICE vehicles were allegedly parked outside of the North Hall dormitory on Hillsborough Street.
“One comrade said that they had seen some police, potentially ICE, gathering at North Hall and we decided to go over there quickly to check it out,” said Jody Anderson, a student of the Young Democratic Socialists, a student organization who participates in political activities that support the Latino immigrant community.
Anderson pointed out that it was not ICE but Raleigh police officers in marked and unmarked units, which was consistent with the immigration authority’s sensitive locations policy.
“We showed up and two people went and asked what was going on, and they said they were just grabbing a bite to eat,” he said.
Anderson said that he believes they were given this response by police just so that the group of students would leave.
The officers did not respond to questions from the students whether or not they were involved with ICE.
“I think that was just a misreading of the situation, but I guess that was partly because of what happened Monday,” he added. “Everybody was worried about ICE potentially being on campus.”
