North Carolina GOP sends immigration-crackdown bills to Democratic Gov. Stein

Republicans at the North Carolina legislature gave final approval Tuesday to two pieces of legislation that would compel state agencies to participate in President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown and would toughen a recent law that required sheriffs to help federal agents seeking criminal defendants.

The series of House and Senate votes on the measures could mean an early showdown between the GOP-controlled General Assembly and new Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, who since taking office in January has tried to build rapport with lawmakers on consensus issues like Hurricane Helene aid.

Stein has yet to veto a bill, and pressure will build on him to use his stamp on one or both of the bills that were sent to him late Tuesday, given the overwhelming Democratic opposition to the measures during floor votes.

The GOP’s legislative maneuvers happened as National Guard troops have been deployed by Trump to Los Angeles to confront protesters angry with federal conducting sweeps that led to immigrant arrests.

Should Stein issue vetoes, Republicans in the ninth-largest state could face challenges in overriding them, since the GOP is currently one seat shy of a veto-proof majority. Republican leaders would need at least one Democrat for their side during an override vote or hope some Democrats are absent.

Dueling immigration philosophies

Republicans say the measures are needed to assist the Trump administration's efforts to remove immigrants unlawfully in the country who are committing crimes and or accessing limited taxpayer resources that are needed for U.S. citizens or lawful immigrants.

“North Carolina is one step closer to increasing the safety of every citizen in the state,” said Senate Leader Phil Berger, a primary sponsor of one of the bills. “The Republican-led General Assembly made it clear that harboring criminal illegal aliens will not be tolerated in our state."

But Democrats and social justice advocates of immigrants say the bills vilify immigrants who work and pay taxes, leading residents to feel intimidated and fear law enforcement, which will ultimately make communities less safe. Demonstrators opposed to GOP action filled the Senate gallery during debate.

Republicans are spending their time “trying to sell a lie that immigrants are the source of our problems,” Democratic Sen. Sophia Chitlik of Durham County said, telling colleagues that their constituents “didn’t send us here to round up their neighbors. They sent us here to make their lives better.”

Stein spokesperson Morgan Hopkins said late Tuesday that the governor "will continue to review the bills. He has made clear that if someone commits a crime and they are here illegally, they should be deported.”

Breaking down the bills

One measure receiving final approval in part would direct heads of several state law enforcement agencies, like the State Highway Patrol and State Bureau of Investigation, to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That would include having to officially participate in the 287(g) program, which trains officers to interrogate defendants and determine their immigration status. A Trump executive order urged his administration to maximize the use of 287(g) agreements.

The measure also would direct state agencies to ensure noncitizens don't access state-funded benefits and publicly funded housing benefits to which they are otherwise ineligible. The same applies to unemployment benefits for those who aren't legally authorized to live in the U.S.

And the bill also prohibits University of North Carolina system campus policies that prevent law enforcement agencies from accessing school information about a students' citizenship or immigration status. Thousands of international students attending college in the U.S. had their study permissions canceled this spring, only for ICE to later reverse decisions and restore their legal status.

The other approved bill Tuesday builds on the 2024 law that lawmakers enacted over then-Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto that directed jails hold temporarily certain defendants whom ICE believe are in the country illegally, allowing time for immigration agents to pick them up. The law was a response by Republicans unhappy with Democratic sheriffs in several counties who declined to help immigration agents with offenders subject to federal immigration detainers and administrative warrants.

The proposed changes expand the list of crimes that a defendant is charged with that would require the jail administrator — expanding in the bill to magistrates — to attempt to determine the defendant’s legal residency or citizenship. A defendant with an apparent detainer or administrative warrant would still have to go before a judicial official before a defendant could be released to agents. A jail also would have to tell ICE promptly that they are holding someone and essentially extends the time agents have to pick up the person.