The Spanish language poster was circulated around Hispanic grocery stores in Alamance County the last couple of weeks.
The flier asks people not to talk to law enforcement in Alamance, saying they have been authorized to trap and arrest illegal immigrants. It says "avoid them, like you'd avoid the devil."
The flier is virtually identical to one from 1800's, advising African Americans to avoid what they called "slave catchers".
"I think that people who are fostering that type of fear and spreading that type of information, are harming the immigrant community greatly," Sheriff's Office Spokesman Randy Jones said.
Jones says the flier came out days before a DWI checkpoint.
'Our point was not to apprehend people, it was to get the message across about the DWI and that's solely what was going on," he said.
But Tony Asion with Raleigh Hispanic advocacy group El Pueblo says the fliers were likely made for a community now living in fear.
"In the process of cooperating with the police, you may very well get yourself in trouble. So they are basically saying, these are your rights. You don't have to say anything. You have the right to remain silent. Exercise your right," Asion said.
Nobody knows who distributed the fliers. They have been torn down from most stores.
But Asion says Latinos should still be afraid when they're near Alamance County Sheriff's Deputies.
"To be honest with you, they should be. Because there are a whole number of incidents that the police are doing things that aren't right," he said.
