Immigration enforcement bills to become law, pending decision from Gov. Stein

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- The clock is ticking for Governor Josh Stein to decide whether to veto two bills dealing with immigration.

SB 153 and HB 318 passed in mostly party-line votes. Both expand local sheriff's offices, cooperating with ICE.

Supporters have argued they're about safety and enforcing the current immigration laws, with House Speaker Destin Hall calling them common sense. But opponents believe it's overreach and would tear families apart.

"It would mean that any kind of simple traffic stop, any type of, you know, interaction that they have with police could turn into them being shuttled into detention centers if their you know, their immigration status is questionable," said Tania Trejo-Mendez from Raleigh.

Groups gathered thousands of signatures to take their case to the Governor.

And so is a group of over 100 faith leaders, who argue this isn't about politics but religious traditions of supporting immigrants.

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"There's an acknowledgment that these various faith traditions have some shared values, including interdependence, welcome ness, community, love, and fellowship. And many of these faith leaders feel that all of those values are fundamentally threatened by expanding ICE's presence in North Carolina and ripping families apart," said Hadeel Hamoud, the Triangle coordinator of Muslim Women For.

The group said that after sending their letter, they still don't know how the governor is leaning.

"These aren't bills that the people want. And so, yeah, we've received confirmation that the governor's team received our letter. And so we're hoping that that demonstrates to him that this is a there is very broad opposition to these bills," Hamoud said.

Gov. Stein has until the end of the day on Friday to decide whether to veto those bills. If he does nothing, they will become law regardless. If he does veto, the bills have already been passed on almost party-line votes, so the override vote would also be extremely close.

Meantime, opponents say they will be back in front of the Governor's Mansion again on Friday morning at 7 a.m. for a rally on his last day to make a decision.