Legislation requiring that NC sheriffs cooperate with ICE clears House, moves to Senate

Lawmakers in the state House of Representatives approved a bill Tuesday to require sheriffs to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, legislation twice vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper.

The House voted 71-44 to approve House Bill 10, a third attempt by Republicans to require sheriffs to honor detainer requests from ICE to hold those charged with serious crimes for at least 48 hours.

“We’ve been working on this bill now for about three years and what I’ve learned … is that practically ICE almost never takes 48 hours. In fact, they almost never take 24 hours to pick these individuals up,” said Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, the bill’s sponsor.

The bill is necessary, he said, “because there is a small number of sheriffs in our state who have completely stopped working with ICE, and in many cases, completely stopped communicating with ICE in any meaningful way regarding illegal aliens who have been charged with crimes in our state.”

Cooper, a Democrat, vetoed similar legislation in 2019 and 2022, saying the effort is aimed at “scoring political points and using fear to divide North Carolinians.”

The legislation has a chance to overcome Cooper's objections to sign it into law because the Republicans in November expanded their majority in both chambers. The three-fifths majority to override the governor is secure in the Senate, and one seat shy in the House.

Hall said that more than 90 of the state’s 100 sheriffs already comply with the bill’s language, and has offered examples of the consequences from the few that do not.

Hall, in committee, said a person previously deported who was in the country illegally was detained in Mecklenburg County for serious domestic violence charges. The person had been released from jail despite an ICE detainer and was accused of continued criminal behavior, resulting in a nine-hour standoff with police a week later.

“Time after time we’ve seen the tragic results,” Hall said. “I have a stack of examples.

“This bill would put a stop to that everywhere across our state.”

Hall noted that when sheriffs refuse to honor the voluntary ICE detainers, federal officials are forced to apprehend people living in the country illegally in the community rather than a controlled jail environment, leading to increased safety risks.

In addition to the detainers, HB10 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,” which is already the law. The bill was also amended to appropriate $278,994 to the Department of Health and Human Services to hire two full-time jail inspectors.

Victims of crimes by people living in the country illegally testified in committee about the impact their ordeals have had on their lives, and urged lawmakers to adopt the bill. Some immigrant groups oppose the bill, while others are in support. Gil Pagan, leader with Hispanos Del Sur, argued in committee the legislation will help keep immigrant communities safe.

Opponents have countered HB10 would detain individuals without probable cause, thwart the will of voters in the state’s largest counties, and sow fear of law enforcement in the immigrant community.

Democrats echoed those concerns and others on the House floor ahead of Tuesday’s vote. Some also shared personal experiences with law enforcement, and urged their colleagues to leave discretion to local sheriffs to prioritize their resources.

“I suggest the problem this bill is trying to solve is not great,” said Rep. Abe Jones, D-Wake, a former judge who noted less than 10% of counties are not complying with detainer requests. “The federal government is very, very capable of getting who they want, when they want.

“Why would we force the hand of the 10% when we don’t know what they’re dealing with at any given moment?”

HB10 now moves to the Senate, where an identical Senate Bill 50 is pending in the Committee on Rules and Operations of the Senate.