RALEIGH, N.C. — A bill that would require North Carolina sheriffs to comply with requests from federal agents interested in rounding up inmates believed to be in the country illegally passed a Senate committee on Tuesday, making it the first major legislation passed during this year’s working session is being implemented.
The bill was approved by the House of Representatives last year, but stalled in the Senate until it was approved by the chamber’s Judiciary Committee in a voice vote. The Senate action signals that the measure is a priority for Republicans, who now have narrow veto-proof majorities in both chambers. A full vote in the Senate could take place later this week.
Two previous editions of the bill passed the Legislature in 2019 and 2022, but were successfully vetoed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper because Democrats held more seats than they do today. The GOP election win will allow Republicans to override a potential Cooper veto this year if they stay united. Cooper has said that an earlier version was “just about the Republican Party scoring political points” on immigration.
The bill essentially requires sheriffs or jailers in all 100 counties to hold inmates accused of violent crimes or other offenses for up to 48 hours if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued a so-called detainer warrant. The bill also requires the involvement of judicial officials to order law enforcement to detain the prisoner in question.
In an ICE detention request, immigration agents ask to be notified before the release from a local jail of a suspect the agency believes is unlawfully in the country.
Under state law, sheriffs and other law enforcement officials are already charged with checking an inmate’s legal status if he or she is accused of serious crimes. If a determination cannot be made about someone’s legal status, a query should be sent to ICE.
But not all sheriffs are heeding these questions, said Rep. Destin Hall, a Caldwell County Republican and bill sponsor, who spoke at Tuesday’s committee hearing. Hall added that a group of sheriffs — mostly Democrats from urban counties — have resisted enforcing warrants, which critics say are not real arrest warrants. He said these shortcomings gave rise to the need for the bill.
“To me, it’s amazing that we should have a bill like this,” Hall said. “It seems to be common sense that law enforcement agencies need to work together.”
Hall said the bill would make communities safer. He cited incidents in which federal immigration officials should have been contacted about a detainee, but they were later released and went on to commit more crimes.
Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, a Republican, expressed support for the legislation, saying it would “remove criminal offenders from our communities.”
However, most public speakers at the hearing opposed the measure. Advocates, activists and small business owners expressed concern that the bill could make North Carolina’s immigrant community feel unsafe and unwelcome.
The legislation also raises serious constitutional concerns about due process violations and creates more problems for law enforcement, said Sejal Zota, legal director of the Just Futures Law group, which represents immigrants.
“The bill interferes with communities and sheriffs’ decisions about local resources and priorities, exposes sheriffs and counties to costly lawsuits for constitutional violations, and further undermines community trust in law enforcement,” said Andressia Ramirez of North Carolina Justice Center, which advocates for low-income residents.
Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden, one of the Democratic sheriffs not responding to warrant requests, said last week that the bill is an “absolutely” political move that unfairly targets sheriffs in urban counties. But he said he would follow the law if the bill were passed — even though he had some questions about how it would affect provincial resources.
An amendment partially approved by the committee Tuesday would allow anyone to file a complaint with the attorney general’s office as the person who alleged a sheriff or jail administrator failed to comply with the proposed legislation. The attorney general could then ask a judge to force the prison guard to comply.
The bill has yet to clear a Senate committee. Wilson County Republican Sen. Buck Newton, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told reporters it was a “reasonable expectation” that the bill would be voted on in the Senate this week. The House would also have to formally agree to the Senate changes before they would reach Cooper’s desk.
