Sheriffs across North Carolina working to implement new ICE cooperation law

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Some big changes are coming to law enforcement across the state, as HB-10 takes effect this week.

The new law means sheriffs in all 100 counties in North Carolina will have to cooperate with federal immigration authorities for people arrested for serious crimes. The law passed after the GOP-led General Assembly overrode the veto of Gov. Roy Cooper.

The new law means anyone arrested for certain crimes -- felonies like homicides, sex charges, and assault down to some misdemeanors like child abuse -- will have to verify their citizenship status with ICE and be held for 48 hours if they get an ICE detainer request.

Wake County Sheriff Willie Rowe was initially concerned about the law for a lack of due process, but said he's now working to implement it in a fair way.

"I think that responsibility rests on us as law enforcement leaders to make sure that our staff is deploying ourselves in such a manner that all people feel welcome, appreciated and valued, but also conducting ourselves in such a way that if you're being threatened, that we will take the appropriate action to address any criminal activity," Rowe said.

Some agencies believe in practice the law will not change much, since they already comply with these orders.

"It takes partnerships to keep good communities. So I just think that this is a reinforcement to make sure that people do. But I've never seen the opportunity where we had a person that needed to be held for ICE and we would not hold him. I have it in my office and never would I allow that," Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone said.

In Person County, Sheriff Jason Wilborn said he has about one case every few weeks. He said he's working to make sure his department follows the new law.

"A lot of times, making contact and communicating is frustrating, I'm sure, on the immigrants ... I think it's going to make this process a lot easier for all law enforcement across the state if everybody's working towards the same goal," Wilborn said.

But the new law is raising concerns among immigrant communities. Yesenia Cuello works with immigrant farm workers in rural North Carolina. She worries HB-10 will make it more difficult for undocumented people to feel safe.

Cuello is concerned that although the law only covers felonies and serious misdemeanors, it could be a slippery slope toward profiling and unfair policing.

"We saw this historically that whenever we had mass deportations in our communities and, you know, with people being stopped for things like maybe having their windows tinted to dark or missing a stop sign -- things that would generally result in like a traffic ticket or a violation -- it leading up to arrests," Cuello said.

But some law enforcement leaders said that's not the case and they're not planning to deliberately target immigrant communities.

"We're not going out, you know, stopping people and asking for that status. We're not doing road checkpoints and asking for people statuses and looking for people's paperwork. These are people that are being incarcerated. They're charged with a crime.," Wilborn reiterated.