NC House passes bill to crack down on sheriff cooperation with ICE

The North Carolina House passed the  Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act on Tuesday evening, doubling down on requiring North Carolina’s law enforcement to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to remove criminal illegal immigrants who have been charged with serious crimes from our communities.

Though House Bill 10 was a similar measure passed at the end of 2024, legislators say the new bill, House Bill 318, tightens the timeline on the law mandating that law enforcement alert ICE before an illegal alien criminal suspect is scheduled to be released, ending dangerous catch-and-release policies designed to provide a safe haven to criminal illegals in Democrat-run jurisdictions.

The bill passed in a 70-45 vote, with Rep. Carla Cunningham, D-Mecklenburg, being the sole Democrat to both sponsor and vote for the legislation. Her county, surrounding the Charlotte metro area, is where Sheriff Gary McFadden has openly decided not to work with ICE to hold illegal aliens in custody until agents arrive.

“If we’re talking about protecting our communities, we need to do what we’re supposed to do,” said Cunningham. “If it calls for us to be in compliance with what federal wants, why not? All over this state, all over – it’s not just happening in Mecklenburg County – we got issues with a 200% increase in overdose deaths in Mecklenburg County. We’ve had four individuals arrested inside of the courthouse in the last couple of weeks that were illegals. We want the overdoses to stop.”

Though most of North Carolina’s 100 sheriffs work with ICE, about five have opted not to work with detainer requests from the federal agency, something Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, described as politics over safety.

“For whatever reason, in 2018, five or so, maybe six [sheriffs], decided they just weren’t going to cooperate at all with ICE,” Hall said on the House floor. “Doing so, I would submit to you, is simply putting politics ahead of public safety. It’s a no-brainer to make sure that when we’re dealing with folks again, not only who are here illegally but who have also been charged with serious crimes, it’s an easy thing to do for the sheriff to cooperate with ICE.”

The House approval comes as another immigration bill moves through committees this week. House Bill 261 could increase felony charges for individuals unlawfully present in the United States, particularly illegal immigrants with prior federal immigration convictions.

In a press release, the North Carolina House Republican Caucus said they have offered several Democratic representatives first-class travel to El Salvador to witness firsthand the realities of transnational crime and immigration enforcement.

“This offer is a direct response to their refusal to support House Bill 318, the Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act, a critical public safety measure requiring sheriffs to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before releasing individuals subject to federal detaine,” the press release reads. “As a condition, they are expected to publicly document their trip through social media via livestream, sharing unfiltered insights into the environments they appear to defend.”

The post NC House passes bill to crack down on sheriff cooperation with ICE first appeared on Carolina Journal.