DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Lawmakers in North Carolina overwhelmingly voted for legislation to require law enforcement across the state to cooperate with federal immigration authorities who are trying to catch illegal aliens.
The GOP-dominated state Legislature on Wednesday completed its override of Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of HB 10, a bill that effectively will ban “sanctuary city” policies across North Carolina. Cooper, a Democrat, has been governor since 2017.
North Carolina’s new law requires sheriffs to honor detainers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, on noncitizens arrested in connection with serious crimes and suspected of living in the country unlawfully. (ICE is part of the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS.)
“The bill itself is purely common sense,” state Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, a Republican, said after the upper chamber voted for the override, 30-19, according to ABC11. “I question why anyone in law enforcement—these elected sheriffs—would deny a community the safety that is allowed by taking the process in this way.”
The bill specifically mandates law enforcement to hold a noncitizen who is subject to an ICE detainer for 48 hours, according to the text of the legislation. It will go into effect Dec. 1.
The wide-ranging legislation also pertains to school vouchers, something that Cooper largely focused on when his office published his veto message in September. However, the Democrat governor also has been opposed to anti-sanctuary legislation in the past. He reiterated this opposition when asked about his veto of HB 10.
“I’ve vetoed the sheriff’s [portion of the bill] a number of times. Obviously, I’m still opposed to that,” Cooper said during a press conference about the veto, according to ABC11.
Some localities in the state don’t honor ICE detainer requests, including Wake and Mecklenburg counties, but law enforcement officials appear largely supportive of the bill. The North Carolina Sheriff’s Association came out in support of it earlier this year.
Other GOP lawmakers pointed out that the new law won’t affect noncitizens who have been stopped by police for minor offenses.
“This would not impact folks who are stopped for minor traffic offenses; this is not something those people would be facing deportation over,” state Sen. Danny Britt, a Republican, said days before Cooper’s veto was overridden, according to Queen City News.
The Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based organization that advocates stricter enforcement of immigration laws, has labeled at least nine different counties in North Carolina as sanctuary havens for illegal aliens, citing various policies that restrict cooperation with ICE agents.
The new state law will force sheriffs in these counties and across the state to adhere to ICE detainers in the future.
Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation
This article was originally published at www.dailysignal.com
