By CLC Staff

The House passed legislation yesterday in a bipartisan vote of 67-43 which mandates cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials after a local law enforcement agency has charged an individual with a serious offense and that person’s legal residency or United States citizenship status is undetermined. Serious offenses include murder, rape, and other violent crimes and a criminal charge can only be secured after the person charged appears before an impartial judicial official, typically a magistrate, who has determined there is probable cause for serious criminal activity.

The state Senate passed the legislation, House Bill 10, on Monday by a vote of 44 to 27.

Once the individual is in custody, the legislation then requires that a judicial official order that the prisoner be subject to a detainer and administrative warrant keeping the individual in custody until ICE resolves the request — or 48 hours, whichever occurs first. ICE lodges detainers on individuals who have been arrested on criminal charges and who ICE has probable cause to believe are removable non-citizens.

“The detainer asks the (local) law enforcement agency to notify ICE before a removable individual is released from custody and to maintain custody of the non-citizen for a brief period of time so that ICE can take custody of that person in a safe and secure setting upon release from that agency’s custody,” the federal law enforcement agency says on its website. “When law enforcement agencies fail to honor immigration detainers and release serious criminal offenders onto the streets, it undermines ICE’s ability to protect public safety and carry out its mission.”

“Until 2018, every sheriff in this state cooperated with ICE,” said Rep. Destin Hall, the bill’s primary sponsor, in his remarks on the floor yesterday. “And what a detainer does, it just simply says that you can hold the person for up to 48 hours until ICE takes a hold of them. And if ICE doesn’t do it, you’ve got to let them go.” [Editor’s note: one can watch the entirety of Rep. Hall’s closing statement at the 48:55 mark in the above video.]

The 2018 elections saw several of North Carolina’s incumbent sheriffs — including in Wake, Durham, Mecklenburg, Forsyth, and Henderson counties — defeated by candidates who pledged to stop working with Trump administration ICE officials, including ending 287(g) cooperation agreements, which notify federal agents of the immigration status of detained individuals. 

In 2019, ICE spokesman Bryan Cox called out several North Carolina counties which were no longer cooperating with the federal agency, deeming them “non-cooperative jurisdictions” in a Homeland Security press release. The move came after the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office refused to honor an ICE detainer, resulting in the release of an illegal alien from custody following his conviction for indecent liberties against a child. The Salvadoran illegal alien was later arrested by ICE in downtown Asheville.

“We’re doing this to educate the public on what is happening,” said Cox. “In North Carolina, specifically, Buncombe, Mecklenburg County, Wake County, these policies are only about a year old.”

“This is yet another example of a clear public safety threat being released into North Carolina communities rather than into ICE custody due to local sheriff policies on ICE non-cooperation,” said then Acting ICE Director Matt Albence. “Continued decisions to refuse cooperation with ICE serve as an open invitation to aliens who commit criminal offenses that these counties are a safe haven for persons seeking to evade federal authorities, and residents of Buncombe County are less safe due to these misguided sanctuary policies.”

Work on ICE provisions in the bill began nearly five years ago but the legislation either failed to advance in the legislature or was vetoed by Governor Cooper. The House and Senate now have bipartisan supermajorities which support the legislation, however, so any expected veto will likely be overridden.

The North Carolina Sheriffs Association has endorsed the ICE provision in the bill.

The legislation also appropriates $1.1 billion in supplemental funding for education and infrastructure improvements:

• $150 million from the Economic Development Reserve to expand and construct highway infrastructure at the Randolph County megasite;
•  $248 million in nonrecurring funds from the Education Reserve to clear the Opportunity Scholarship backlog of 55,000 students for the current school year;
• $215.5 million in recurring funds to the Opportunity Scholarship Grant Fund Reserve for scholarship awards in the 2025–26 fiscal year;
• $24.7 million in recurring funds to the North Carolina Personal Education Student Accounts for Children with Disabilities Program (PESA program) to clear the waitlist for children with disabilities;
• $64 million in recurring funds for the community college system to account for increased student enrollment;
• $95 million in recurring funds for K-12 public school enrollment growth to ensure schools have the necessary operating expenses to support students and teachers;
• $277 million in recurring funds and $100 million in nonrecurring funds for Medicaid; and
• $55.1 million to the City of Sanford for water and sewer expenditures in Chatham County to support economic development.
• $190 million from the State Fiscal Recovery Fund and the Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund to the Department of Information Technology to jumpstart the state’s Completing Access to Broadband program.

“A responsible state budget is critical to helping North Carolina families weather these tough economic times brought on by the failed policies of the Biden-Harris administration,” said House Speaker Tim Moore.

“The mini budget strengthens our commitment to school choice for all NC families as well as public education, with historic investments in enrollment growth for both K-12 public schools and our community colleges. Furthermore, thanks to language requiring sheriffs to cooperate with ICE, North Carolina will also be better equipped to weather the Biden-Harris illegal immigration crisis at our southern border and protect our communities. These priorities ensure North Carolina families are empowered to thrive and build a brighter future for themselves and our state.”