ICE compliance bill passes NC House, heads to governor’s desk

CHARLOTTE — A pivotal vote Wednesday in Raleigh could force the hands of sheriffs across the state.

Republican lawmakers want to make compliance with ICE mandatory. Now that a new bill has passed the North Carolina House, sheriffs across North Carolina may soon be required to cooperate with ICE.

The bill will make sheriffs honor ICE detainers and hold people suspected of being in the country illegally for at least 48 hours when they are charged with certain violent crimes.

“What this says is if an individual is locked up for a certain enumerated violent crime and violent felony, that individual must be held by their sheriff for 48 hours prior to being released,” said Sen. Danny Britt, R-Robeson.

Currently, the decision on whether to work with ICE falls to sheriffs. Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden doesn’t honor voluntary detainers. He is strongly opposed to the bill.

“It erodes the authority of a duly elected sheriff,” said McFadden.

The bill will be costly, he said. A person detained at the center will incur a cost of at least $360 per day, according to McFadden.

He also worries the bill will result in fewer members of the Hispanic community reporting crimes.

“Victims of crimes and witnesses of crimes are not going to come forward from the Hispanic community, because they’re going to simply live in fear,” McFadden said.

Bill sponsors say this isn’t about that.

“This bill does not round folks up who are accused of crimes,” Britt said. “This bill does not send law enforcement into homes of folks who are not charged with crimes.”

The ICE provisions are tucked in a bill that also provides the funding to clear the opportunity scholarship waitlist.

Now that the House passed it Wednesday, it will go to Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk.

VIDEO: North Carolina lawmakers try again to make sheriffs help ICE

North Carolina lawmakers try again to make sheriffs help ICE

©2024 Cox Media Group