HILLBSOROUGH, N.C. -- ICE protesters rallied outside the Orange County Sheriff's Office Friday.

• They're upset after ICE agents came and detained undocumented immigrant Jocsan Cornejo
• Deputies arrested Cornejo back in June for DWI and assault charges
• Protesters are accusing the sheriff of going back on his word after he previously said he wouldn't cooperate with ICE agents

They're upset after ICE agents came and detained undocumented immigrant Jocsan Cornejo from the Orange County jail earlier this month. Deputies arrested Cornejo back in June for DWI and assault charges.

Protesters believe Sheriff Charles Blackwood could've done more to stop ICE agents. They're accusing him of going back on his word after he previously said he wouldn't cooperate with ICE agents.

"He had a choice in allowing ICE to take this person and he chose to let them into the custody," said Organizer Juan Miranda with Siembra NC.

Blackwood wasn't in the office Friday. His office referred Spectrum News to a statement he put on Thursday:

In response to multiple inquiries regarding Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assuming custody of Jocsan Cornejo Cornejo from the Orange County Detention Center (OCDC), Sheriff Charles Blackwood issues the following statement:

On Friday, July 18 at 3:10 pm, DHS came to the Orange County Detention Center and exercised their federal authority to take custody of Mr. Cornejo. He was booked out at 3:36 pm. Cornejo was awaiting trial on state charges for DWI, Driving While License Revoked (not impaired revocation), Exceeding Posted Speed, Assault on a Female, Assault on a Child under 12, and Battery of an Unborn Child. For these charges, he was being held under a $25,000 secured bond.

Cornejo originally came into the custody of OCDC on June 23. At that time, pursuant to North Carolina General Statutes § 162-62, we submitted his fingerprints which triggered an automatic inquiry of his immigration status.

OCDC received a detainer request for Mr. Cornejo on June 23 from a California office. On June 25, we received a second detainer request from the Cary, NC office. Both detainer requests asked us to hold Mr. Cornejo for up to 48 hours after our authority to detain him would otherwise end. As per our usual practice, detention center staff filed a copy in Cornejo’s inmate shuck. He remained detained in our facility because no one posted his bond and because his state charges were not yet resolved.

Sheriff Blackwood said, “Some people are unaware that being in the United States without proper documentation is NOT a crime.  A lack of proper immigration status is a civil violation of immigration law. Immigration matters are federal problems best left to federal actors. We keep individuals in our detention center when we are required to do so by the law. Keeping someone incarcerated because another agency, in this case DHS, requests us to do so does not give us legal authority to hold them. Absent additional legal authority, such as a federal judicial warrant, we do not honor detainer requests.  Keeping a person without legal authority is a violation of a person’s constitutional rights.”

As routinely happens, on the morning of July 18, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) called to inquire about inmates for whom they had submitted detainer requests, including a request for information about Cornejo. Later, the OCDC Administrator placed a call to DHS to clarify that Cornejo did indeed have a bond reduction hearing scheduled that afternoon.  During that communication, DHS verbally renewed the detainer request, asking OCDC to retain custody over him for 24 – 48 hours. DHS was told the detention center would not hold him if he became eligible for release.  DHS arrived prior to Cornejo’s bond hearing and took him into custody. When the hearing concluded, the district court judge ordered Cornejo’s bond unsecured, and the clerk file stamped the order at 4:06 pm. At that time, Cornejo had already been in ICE’s custody for approximately half an hour.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office has always complied with local, state and federal law. In addition, we cooperate with local, state, and federal enforcement agencies when working together furthers the safety of those we are entrusted to protect. Our cooperation with ICE is limited to the sharing of publicly available information.

“Even people in the United States without documentation come under the protection of the U.S. Constitution. If ICE does not come before the expiration of the period during which we have the legal authority to hold someone in custody, the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution, which was made applicable to the states by the 14th Amendment, requires the person’s release, ” said Blackwood. “Violating a person’s constitutional rights is not something we do. A detainer request is not an order issued by a federal judicial officer; it is merely a request which can be honored or not at the discretion of a sheriff. As a matter of policy, our agency does not honor detainer requests.