NC Legislature Mandates Sheriff Cooperation With ICE

By Brianna Kraemer
Carolina Journal

The North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation on Wednesday that mandates all North Carolina sheriffs cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency that issues detainers to remove noncitizen criminals.

The House voted 67-43 to pass the bill on Wednesday afternoon following the Senate’s approval on Monday in a 27-7 vote. The bill, which also includes budget adjustments to fund high-profile topics such as opportunity scholarships, K-12 schools, and Medicaid, will now be sent to Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk.

The bill requires sheriffs to cooperate with ICE under North Carolina law rather than allowing every county to decide whether or not to work with the federal agency to detain illegal immigrants arrested for major crimes. ICE can request detainers against noncitizens who have been arrested for felonies or violent misdemeanor criminal activity. The detainer effectively requests that local police departments notify ICE when the undocumented criminal is set to be released from custody. Instead of releasing them, the detainers allow time for ICE agents to arrive and take custody for deportation in accordance with federal law.

“Much of what we’ve heard today about the bill was just factually incorrect,” responded Rep. Destin Hall, R-Caldwell. “For example, this only applies to serious felonies, folks who have committed either serious felonies, violent felonies, or violent misdemeanors… They’re not going out looking for folks that may be here illegally.”

Hall, who has been working on the bill for five years, told House members that the process is already voluntarily done in over 90 of 100 North Carolina counties. He said when some sheriffs say they won’t comply with ICE, it doesn’t solve any problem for the people who are here illegally, immigration authorities, or sheriffs because then ICE must deploy more resources to go out into the community to find and detain the individual all over again. 

The few county sheriffs that don’t cooperate, such as Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden, have voiced concerns about the legality of holding a criminal for up to 48 hours if a judge has already ordered their release. McFadden told the Carolina Journal earlier this year that he could face legal consequences for not complying with a judge’s order. However, the legislation passed Wednesday explicitly states that no law enforcement officer shall bear liability for action taken pursuant of the order.

The North Carolina Sheriffs Association endorsed the updated legislation, thanking the General Assembly for its willingness not to include provisions that would have “imposed onerous recordkeeping requirements” and “interjected the Attorney General into these judicial matters.”

“In recognition of the improvements to House Bill 10 made by the General Assembly, the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association SUPPORTS Subsection 9.1.(a) of House Bill 10 as contained in the Proposed Conference Committee Substitute,” the Association stated.

“The Biden-Harris open border agenda has caused unrest and fear across the country,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Danny Earl Britt, Jr. (R-Robeson) said in reference to the legislation. “ICE is here to help keep our communities safe and we should be working with them on that mission, not obstructing their efforts. Most of our sheriffs are already taking the necessary steps, but the holdouts need the legislative push and that’s exactly what this policy does.”

Within the ICE section of the bill, roughly $280,000 is appropriated to the Department of Health and Human Services to hire two full-time jail inspectors. The DHHS Division of Health Service Regulation licenses and regulates medical, mental health, and adult care facilities, emergency medical services, and local jails. 

Rep. Hall said that counties would not bear any additional costs associated with the mandate when it comes to complying with ICE detainers.