(The Center Square) – Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly will try for a third time to pass legislation requiring the state’s sheriffs to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, legislation twice vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper in prior sessions.
Sens. Danny Earl Britt, Jr., R-Robeson, Norman Sanderson, R-Pamlico, and Buck Newton, R-Wilson, introduced Senate Bill 50 on Wednesday, before it was referred to the Senate Committee on Rules and Operations. An identical House Bill 10 was filed last week by four Republican sponsors and numerous co-sponsors.
The bills would require jail officials to honor detainer requests from ICE for any person charged with serious crimes for at least 48 hours. The legislation also tasks jailers with contacting ICE if they are “unable to determine if that prisoner is a legal resident or citizen of the United States or its territories.”
The intent is to hold those charged with crimes, who are living in or have entered the country illegally, long enough to transfer them into ICE custody. Officials estimated in committee hearings last summer it would cost between $137 and $300 per inmate to comply with the detainers.
SB50 and HB10 would also require jail officials to produce annual reports for the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Justice and Public Safety with specific data. That data includes the number of times a facility queries ICE regarding immigration status; number of ICE responses; number of ICE detainer requests; number of times inmates are held the full 48 hours; number of rescinded ICE detainers; number of people held on detainers who otherwise would be eligible for release; and the number of times ICE took custody of those held on detainers.
Similar measures were approved by the General Assembly in 2019 and 2022, and both times Cooper vetoed the measures.
Proponents of the bills have cited public safety concerns, while opponents have argued they impose unreasonable burdens on already under-resourced county jails.
“As the state’s former top law enforcement officer, I know that current law already allows the state to incarcerate and prosecute dangerous criminals regardless of immigration status,” Cooper wrote in his 2022 veto.
Cooper said the effort is unconstitutional “and weakens law enforcement in North Carolina by mandating that sheriffs do the job of federal agents, using local resources that could hurt their ability to protect their counties.”
The November elections expanded a Republican supermajority in the Senate and brought Republicans one vote shy of the same in the House, increasing the chances for overrides of any future Cooper vetoes.
