Under the Dome podcast: Immigration and the return of the ICE bill in NC

Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan
·2 min read

Start your week in North Carolina politics with our latest Under the Dome podcast, for the week of April 8, 2024. Dawn Vaughan here, your podcast host and The News & Observer’s Capitol bureau chief. On this episode, we’re talking about a major issue at the state and national levels: immigration.

Two of our politics team reporters, Avi Bajpai and Danielle Battaglia, have written stories about the issue that will publish this week. It’s part of a national series of stories that McClatchy newspapers is publishing on immigration.

Bajpai has stories coming about detention requests that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, makes of jails, and legislation planned for this year’s General Assembly session that would require sheriffs to cooperate with those requests.

Bajpai interviewed state Rep. Destin Hall, a Caldwell County Republican. As the House Rules Committee chair, Hall controls what the supermajority brings to the floor. along with the speaker. On this episode, you’ll hear clips from that interview and why Hall says a new ICE bill on sheriff cooperation is needed.

You’ll also hear from Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden — one of the sheriffs that the Republican-sponsored legislation will target.

“Nobody has a solution. The system is broken,” McFadden said about immigration.

After the break, Battaglia talks about her coverage of a new facility for immigrant children in Greensboro and all the unanswered questions about it. Plus, how the immigration issue is playing out in Washington.

You’ll be able to read all their upcoming immigration coverage at newsobserver.com.

Headliner of the Week

Stay tuned to the end for our picks for Headliner of the Week, which range from today’s eclipse viewing to capital improvement projects to the glorious North Carolina spring.

Listen to our latest episode below and catch up on previous episodes. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Audible, iHeart, Pandora, Amazon Music and Stitcher.