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In March Guilford County's BJ Barnes will join the growing ranks of North Carolina sheriffs who have added immigration enforcement to their daily to-do lists.

Barnes has received a federal grant that will allow the Sheriff's Office here to check the immigration status of all inmates processed into the Guilford County Jail. Those found to be in the country illegally will have their names turned over to federal immigration authorities, who will decide whether to take them into custody. The program is called Secure Communities and is an offshoot of another, better-known federal program, 287 (g).

On its surface, it makes sense. After all, illegal is illegal.

A chilling effect?

But critics say Secure Communities will only breed fear and mistrust among immigrants, especially Latinos, and that it could have a chilling effect on their relations with police. That could mean more crimes could go unreported, for fear that the person reporting the crime, or the person being reported, would be deported. For instance, a domestic violence call might never be made out of such a concern.

Many Latinos, who comprise the largest and fastest-growing immigrant population in North Carolina and Guilford County, come from cultures in which police already are considered corrupt and abusive. Add that preconceived notion to deportation fears and serious crimes could remain dangerous secrets.

To be clear, Barnes will not be adopting the full-bore 287 (g) program. Under that program, which has been instituted in Alamance, Gaston, Mecklenburg and Wake counties, sheriff's offices are empowered not only to check the federal database for inmates' immigration status, but to train their officers to interview the immigrants, hold illegal immigrants in their jails longer term and begin deportation proceedings.

And Barnes promises not to turn the program into a campaign to hunt illegal immigrants through racial profiling. "This program is set up for folks who have committed crimes," he said.

But there are other concerns.

For instance, the program could affect other agencies' relations with immigrants. Any inmate housed in the county jail will be subject to the database check, regardless of who arrested him. Barnes did not consult either High Point Police Chief Jim Fealy or Greensboro Chief Tim Bellamy before signing on to Secure Communities. As at least a professional courtesy, he should have.

Opponents in nearby counties of 287 (g) and Secure Communities also question its impact on resources and priorities. Immigrants are not the major source of crime in the state or Guilford County. Typically, 10 percent of the Guilford jail population is Latino.

Barnes noted, in addition, that calls to his department are up to the point that an officer isn't always available to answer.

A lower priority

Finally, illegal immigration routinely rates low on state residents' lists of their top concerns. According to a poll released last week by the conservative Civitas Institute, 3 percent of respondents ranked illegal immigration as "the biggest issue or problem facing North Carolina today"; 1 percent ranked it as the issue that "should be Governor Perdue's highest priority."

Further, Barnes contends that laws are meant to be enforced. But even the guidelines of Secure Communities involve discretion. Federal officers decide which illegal immigrants to take into custody and which ones not to, based on available resources and the seriousness of the charges.

Enforcement and outreach

To be fair, Barnes would devote only one of his 550 officers to the program and believes access to the federal database will be more than worth the investment -- "a multiplier effect." And he is looking to do more than wield a clenched fist.

Twenty-six of his officers speak Spanish; 4 percent are Latino and he is actively seeking more. He has pushed more positive contact and outreach into the Latino community, including guest appearances by officers on Hispanic radio. He supports beginning a Spanish-speaking Crime Stoppers phone line in Guilford County, a good idea whose time is overdue.

But he concedes that even when 287 (g) deports convicted criminals, they often come right back across the border and are arrested again.

Absent better border security and clear, enforceable federal immigration laws, local sheriffs are bailing the ocean with leaky teaspoons.

No matter how carefully and compassionately Barnes runs Secure Communities in Guilford County, this problem won't be fixed without meaningful changes at its root -- immigration reform in Washington.