Advocates speak against NC bill requiring sheriffs to cooperate with ICE

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Advocates spent part of Monday’s Tax Day highlighting how immigrants have contributed to North Carolina while pushing back on a bill Republicans in the legislature will take up this spring requiring local sheriffs to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

Kelly Morales, co-director of Siembra NC, joined immigrant workers and others outside the NC Dept. of Revenue while holding an oversized check for $300 million. A recent report by the left-leaning Carolina Forward found that’s the estimated amount undocumented immigrants pay in state and local taxes in North Carolina each year, based on data from Pew Research and other organizations.

Morales said she’s concerned about the legislature focusing on the issue of sheriffs cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and not on issues impacting immigrant workers such as wage theft.

“That is a tool that is being used by the GOP for votes in November. What we don’t see is them actually talking about protecting working-class immigrants that do contribute taxes,” said Morales.

Last year, the House passed a bill that would require sheriffs to honor detainer requests by ICE to hold people suspected of being in the country illegally for up to 48 hours.

The Senate did not take up the bill, but a spokesperson for Republican Senate leader Phil Berger said Monday he does support moving forward with it this spring.

Earlier this year, House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland), who is running for a seat in Congress, said the bill would be a top priority amid record crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border. Immigration is among the key issues in the 2024 election.

“This is a clear and present danger to our country,” Moore said at the time.

The bill is similar to legislation the General Assembly has passed previously but was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. This time the GOP has a veto-proof supermajority.

The governor said those bills were unconstitutional and “about scoring political points.”

Republicans say they’re responding to actions by Democratic sheriffs in the state’s largest counties who campaigned on promises to end cooperative agreements with ICE.

Those sheriffs have said ICE needs to give them an order signed by a judge or magistrate in order to detain someone for 48 hours.

Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone said his office’s relationship with ICE has been beneficial. He’d like to see more voluntary cooperation among law enforcement agencies at all levels of government.

“I know that the ICE group that I work with are phenomenal. It’s all about public safety and it’s about being able to keep bad people from the communities,” said Sheriff Stone. “This is the type of relationship where we’ve got to work to secure our communities and to make sure that we do not have these bad elements in communities.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to CBS17.com.