North Carolina sheriff won’t stop school-day license checks

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The new sheriff in one of North Carolina’s most populated counties says he won’t quit doing traffic stops even though activists say they could be targeting immigrants for deportation.

Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers’s office released a statement on Tuesday saying he sympathizes with immigrant parents, but his job is keeping all citizens safe.

Advocates for immigrants had asked Rogers to halt license checks on weekday afternoons when parents are driving to pick up children from school.

But Rogers’s office says he won’t tell officers to stop doing their jobs at certain times of the day, because lawbreakers may be driving without a license.

He also says his office will follow state and federal law and no longer routinely holds inmates for immigration authorities without a warrant or deportation order.