Alamance County, N.C., Sheriff Terry Johnson, a Long-Time ICE 287(g) Partner, Loses Re-election to Shannon Long

Bolts reported that on Tuesday Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson, a Republican who has been in office since 2002, lost his reelection bid to Shannon Long, a former school resource officer who now runs a local Christian ministry and barber school and ran as an unaffiliated candidate, defeating Johnson by nearly 5 percentage points, or more than 3,100 votes.

Johnson has long partnered with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, first as an early participant of the agency’s 287(g) program, which empowered his deputies to interrogate people about immigration status while out on patrols. Johnson ended that ICE detention agreement last year and previously told Bolts the sheriff’s office no longer participates in 287(g), though Alamance County remains on ICE’s database of counties with an active 287(g) contract. Long pledged to not ‘do what has been done in the past with ICE,’ and said he would not participate in the 287(g) program. Compare 2026-10-28–ice-287g-task-force-model-agencies-522-sept-2025-to-1972-oct-2026-from-ice-page-captures.