NC GOP sends immigration crackdown bills to Gov. Stein

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Two bills focused on immigration enforcement in North Carolina are now closer to becoming law. On Tuesday, the Senate passed both SB 153 -- requiring four state law enforcement agencies to carry out ICE functions -- as well as HB 318, which adds new provisions to last year's bill that requires Sheriffs' Offices across the state to comply with ICE detainers.

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.

Protesters gathered at the legislature on Tuesday to decry the two bills and called on Stein to veto SB 153. That bill now heads to the governor's desk, while HB 318 will head back to the House for further discussion.

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

"Other people are being criminalized because they are immigrants, especially Latinos," said Lucy Rodriguez, a Colombian immigrant who spoke at the protest in downtown Raleigh.

Rodriguez moved to the Triangle from Colombia about 25 years ago, but she says the last several months -- as ICE raids and deportations have ramped up across the country -- have been particularly difficult.

"A lot of tension for everybody. And now our communities are suffering. People are getting depressed and people are getting worried," she said.

Should Stein issue vetoes, Republicans in the ninth-largest state could face challenges in overriding them, since the GOP is one seat shy of a veto-proof majority. Republican leaders would need at least one Democrat on 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."

The two bills approach different topics. SB 153, also called the "North Carolina Border Protection Act," would require officers from the N.C. Departments of Public Safety and Adult Correction, the State Highway Patrol, and the State Bureau of Investigation - agencies all overseen by Stein - to carry out ICE functions. That bill would also direct state agencies to ensure noncitizens do not receive a variety of state-funded benefits, such as housing assistance or unemployment.

HB 318 would require additional cooperation with ICE from North Carolina Sheriffs' Offices by holding inmates who are in the country illegally for 48 hours once they've posted bail, and to notify ICE two hours before that inmate is set to be released. That's a procedural change from HB 10, a controversial bill passed last year.

Democrats and social justice advocates of immigrants argued that 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."

On the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon, several Democratic lawmakers spoke out against the measures.

"This bill is really not about safety," said Natalie Murdock, who represents District 20. "It's about intimidation. It's about fear-mongering. And it's about targeting vulnerable people who come to North Carolina seeking a better life each and every day."

Just a few minutes later, SB 153 passed 26-17 as protestors packed into the gallery jeered from above. While those demonstrators decried that bill as fear-mongering, Eddie Caldwell -- head of the NC Sheriffs' Association -- says, at least in the case of HB 318, not much is being changed.

"By and large, it's procedural changes," Caldwell said. "It doesn't change the policy of the existing law, but it aligns more closely the state process for dealing with these immigration detainers, with ICE's procedures."

Caldwell said his association has no official stance on SB 153, since it affects other government agencies but does not involve sheriffs' offices, but said he believes both bills are targeting people here illegally who have committed serious crimes. ICE generally only keeps records and issues detainers for those who have previously broken the law.

"There's been a lot of discussion that these bills are going to cause folks to be afraid that ICE is going to be, quote, rounding up people in the country illegally," Caldwell said. "But ICE doesn't know about the people in the country illegally, unless they've already had an encounter."

ABC11 reached out to Stein's office on Tuesday to ask whether he planned to veto the bill. A spokesperson said: "The Governor will continue to review the bill. 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 the 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 the University of North Carolina system campus policies that prevent law enforcement agencies from accessing school information about a student's 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 to hold temporarily certain defendants whom ICE believes 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, which 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, which essentially extends the time agents have to pick up the person.

The Associated Press contributed.