11-3-25: McFadden Now Cooperates with Ice

Tune in here to this ​Monday's edition of Breaking With Brett Jensen!

Breaking Brett Jensen sits down for a 1-on-1 exclusive interview with Mecklenburg County Sheriff Gary McFadden to discuss his recent decision to renew cooperation with ICE and what that partnership really means for the county. Sheriff McFadden explains that the move isn’t about enforcement but about improving safety and communication between agencies.

He details new protocols that allow ICE agents to operate within secure areas of the courthouse and detention center, ensuring transparency, safety, and respect for all involved. The sheriff also addresses concerns surrounding recent inmate deaths at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center, citing underlying health issues, poverty, and substance abuse as the primary causes rather than officer misconduct.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Welcome back to the Brett Winnable Show. Brett Jensen sitting
in for mister Winnable as we go up until six
o'clock tonight. Seven four or five, seven eleven ten is
the telephone number and also that is the d WBT
text line driven by Liberty Buick gmc. So we are
doing our pre election day extravaganzas I've got a lot
of candidates coming on tonight or coming on the show today,

(00:32):
I should say. But joining us now is Sheriff Gary
mcfadd mecklambre County Sheriff Gary McFadden because something happened last
week that a lot of people did not see coming
and I thought, you know what, let's just go straight
to the source and bring on the sheriff to talk
about it. And Sheriff, first of all, thank you for
joining us. And second of all the cooperation with Ice.

(00:54):
You guys put out a big press release talking about
the cooperation with ICE. So in a reader's digest version,
can you explain sort of what you were doing and
now what you are doing.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
What we were doing. Can y'all hear me.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Clearer, loud and clear, sir, Yes, sir, So.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
What we weren't doing is talking to each other and
fighting in the media saying you did this and you
did that. And of course you know the word cooperation
and Sheriff macfadden is always in somebody's sentence or comment
or criticism. So in Texas a couple of weeks ago,
I was with the Major County Sheriffs of America, which

(01:34):
I am a board member of, and everybody was complaining
about what they were getting weren't not getting from Ice,
and what we weren't doing, and what was said and
the promises that were made they're not coming through. So
when they looked at me, I said, this is the
problem that we've all had, but now it's in your corner.
And while in Texas, if you remember, there was a

(01:55):
shooting at a Ice I guess rest center where people
were shot and killed. Right after that, people don't understand
what else happened that in another city, Ice was making
an arrest and accidentally shot a marshal. And so, sitting

(02:16):
back looking at all of this and thinking about it
and what we call our a duck Pond incident where
Ice was fighting somebody in the duck pond, I decided
to write Ice a letter and said, look, can we
stop all the rhetoric in the media. Can we just
be adults and come to the table. And I asked them,
please bring decision makers to the table, not lawmakers, decision makers,

(02:40):
but ICE. So I sent them this letter earlier back
in May with very little response. When I said it
to them on October one, they responded. They said that
we will come and listen and talk to you. When
they came, I gave them guidelines, policies, and procedures that

(03:00):
will make it more safer for them to do their
work in and around the Meccnburg County court House. After
that meeting, everybody agreed. I gave them the protocols, I
give them phone numbers of how this should be operated.
And the very first incident with flawless inside the court house. Now,
when people said that you are doing enforcement, I am not.

(03:24):
The Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office is not doing enforcement with ICE.
We are simply cooperating with the federal agency who has
jurisdiction in dealing with the people that they need to
deal with under their guideline and their procedures and whatever
laws they're doing. We just wanted to be safe and

(03:46):
no one gets hurt. We had the meeting and we've
gotten one hundred percent cooperation, one hudred percent understanding and
we're moving forward.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Speak with Mecklmberg County Sheriff Garay McFadden. So Sheriff, now
how the cooperation is working, Like what is what are
you doing now or how are you you and ICE
working together? What are some of the procedures.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
Well, they're not going to be operating in and around
the courthouse with the mask. They're not going to be
operating in We hopefully as they as we go forward,
operating in and and around the courthouse, you know, secretly
waiting for somebody to come out of court. If they
have someone they are looking for inside the courtroom, they
have a protocol and procedures, phone numbers to call enter

(04:30):
a secure area into the courthouse because now we know
who they are. Go to that court room. When that
person is finished with whatever court precision, they take him
into custody. We then escort them back through the courthouse
back into a secure area, and they leave the courthouse

(04:52):
in in and from a secured area. And when they
come down to the Maconbury County Detention Center, it's kind
of the same thing. They we call them, they come down,
they park underneath, they pick up the person that they
need to be picked up, and they leave. It's just
an organized, professional process and procedure that creates safety and

(05:18):
humanity all in one.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Speaking with Mecklimber County Sheriff Garre mcfatten here for a
couple more minutes, Sheriff, real quick, I saw the prince
release the other day, or I guess maybe it was
yesterday last night. I could have my days wrong of
an inmate death. Well, I don't necessarily need you to
speak about that specific incident. Inmate deaths. You know, I
know that you have a very very large jail. I

(05:41):
understand that detention center. I understand that are how many
of these deaths are preventable?

Speaker 2 (05:47):
Do you think, well, here's why we can say it
is not preventable. The one the death in the hospital.
We're going to say how many of them are preventable?
Why they have metal care, twenty four hour doctors, twenty
four hour facility. With all the modern day medicine and equipment,

(06:09):
people still die. The people that come to Meckenberg County
Detention Center often number one has never had any healthcare
number two will be diagnosed with a life threatening illness
that they did not know that they have, and we
simply housing them inside the detention center. And so we

(06:30):
can say this, none of these deaths are at the
hands of our detention officers. It is poverty, poor health
that is the direct cause, including substance abuse. We mean
by substance abuse illegal drugs fitting all cocaine or some

(06:50):
pills that they what we call suitcase in inside the
tention center, which here, why can't you prevent that? Well
try But if you have mail and a substance is
under a stamp or as we call suitcase in in
your body cavity, do we find everything. These are the

(07:14):
things that we're up against. But the death inside of
the tension center is mainly because of poor health, poverty
that they're not receiving well.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
Sheriff. I know that you and I are going to
talk later this week, but again, I really do appreciate
you coming on today because I know a lot of
people were interested, maybe skeptical, maybe thought that you had
no choice but to cooperate with ICE. But considering how
you're doing this now, I just I wanted you to
come on and be able to explain it to you
from your own words about the situation going on with ICE.

(07:48):
So I really do appreciate you joining us today.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
I thank you, but that's the sad part that we
need to if you want to have some clarity, And
I thank you or you and the station for making
these things clear, because oftentimes is twisted or as we
call word salad, they twist the word you know, enforcement, No,
it's cooperation. The only thing I ever asked is for collaboration, cooperation, communication.

(08:10):
And I will say this after that meeting, I received
two additional phone calls that evening. I've had two other
meetings with ICE which have been very productive since that time.
It's just that we're putting aside all of the restorics,
all the political agenda and all of the word salad words,

(08:31):
and said, can't we work together? And when we gave
them the protocol, we gave them the guidelines, they said, well,
let's see if how're that gonna work. And it worked superbly.
And all were trying to do is create a safer
environment for them to do their work, a safer environment
for the cities of the Meccanburg County in and around

(08:52):
the courthouse and a safer environment for my deputies, and
so far that has worked.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
Sriff McFadden, seriously, thank you for your time today. I
greatly appreciate it, sir, Thank you, Thank you. Sir. All right,
that is Sheriff Garry McFadden. I know a lot of
people were like, you know what, it's ice. Is he cooperating?
Is he really cooperating?

Speaker 2 (09:13):
Is he not?

Speaker 1 (09:13):
Because you know, I mean that was a big thing
going back to his election in twenty eighteen, and you
know what he's I spoke to him earlier this afternoon
and he said, Brett, things could not be going more smoothly,
and it's exactly how things should be going. And so
there you go.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
All right.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
When we come back, we'll get into a couple of
other things coming up later on. Dan Boone, who is
running for Huntersville Town Commission, and also wbtv's David Hodges
will be in studio with me to talk about that
crazy mess going on up once again up in Concord
and the mayoral election. So we'll get into all that
when we return