RALEIGH, N.C. (CN) — North Carolina lawmakers are close to passing a bill that would require all sheriffs to honor 48-hour detention requests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as a Senate committee moved the measure forward Tuesday.
GOP lawmakers spoke about how House Bill 10 would protect law enforcement following Monday’s shooting in Charlotte, which left four law enforcement officers dead and four others hospitalized.
“The horrible tragedy that happened yesterday in Charlotte, what precipitated all of that was the officers serving a fugitive,” said Representative Destin Hall, who introduced and sponsored the bill. “It had nothing to do with immigration in that case, but any law enforcement officer you talk to will tell you probably the most dangerous thing that they ever have to do is serve any kind of process.”
The process for law enforcement and detainees is safer when ICE is able to take custody of a person in a secured environment, which eliminates risk of a struggle or shootout, said Hall.
Under current state law, sheriffs must attempt to determine the legal residency status of the people they arrest, and contact ICE if they are unable to confirm. They are not required to honor ICE’s 48-hour detainment requests, which give federal officers time to come and take custody.
HB 10 would require sheriffs to continue to detain immigrants charged with specific felonies or serious misdemeanors for 48 hours, and keep detailed records on their interactions with ICE, including tracking the number of times prisoners are held who would have otherwise been eligible for release.
The bill will also shield local law enforcement officers from criminal and civil liability for detaining prisoners and contacting ICE.
Republicans have been attempting to pass a bill requiring sheriffs to comply with ICE since 2019, but were vetoed by Democrat Governor Roy Cooper in 2019 and again in 2022. The majority of sheriffs are already complying with ICE, but lawmakers are pushing to compel the hold-outs, and Republicans now have the numbers to override a veto from Cooper.
Hall argued that until 2018, sheriffs were voluntarily complying with ICE, and that the bill serves to allay concerns of legal retaliation in honoring ICE detainers that law enforcement shared.
Immigration was a key issue for voters during elections for sheriff in 2018, and several sheriffs won their races after saying they were against a similar program that had them support federal officers with deportations.
Out of the 100 sheriffs in the state, sheriffs in six counties have committed to not holding prisoners for the 48-hour detainment period, including in Wake, Durham, Forsyth and Mecklenburg, which make up some of North Carolina’s largest cities.
Wake County Sheriff Willie Rowe said via a representative at Tuesday's meeting that he opposed the bill.
“This bill hinders the sheriff's office's ability to build relationships with the community and takes away authority from the sheriff to set local law enforcement priorities,” Rowe said in his statement on HB 10.
The sheriff's concerns were echoed by others at the hearing. Maryam Khan, an attorney from the North Carolina Justice Center, said the bill would have “a chilling effect on our policy and law.”
Others brought up concerns about it increasing distrust in law enforcement, and decreased willingness to participate in police investigations for fear of deportation.
“They haven’t been convicted, tried or convicted of a crime,” said one speaker, Mark Swallow, during public comment. “But it’s not really about making sense. It’s about keeping power.”
Senator Mujtaba Mohammed questioned if surrendering prisoners to ICE custody would prevent victims from crimes from getting justice.
In his experience, Mohammed said, ICE doesn’t bring back criminal defendants. Once they are released into ICE custody, they’re gone, and victims of crime don’t get justice.
“My concern is that your bill essentially hinders public safety as a whole by not allowing individuals to seek justice by not allowing prosecutors to fully prosecute to the fullest of federal law,” he said.
Hall said that ICE works with the district attorney's office to prosecute, and that not cooperating with ICE can have tragic consequences and result in reoffending.
“We've had folks who were arrested, the ICE detainer was issued, they were let out of jail. ICE was not contacted. They were allowed to just leave, and then within a short period of time, they've committed another crime,” he said.
The bill could go to the Senate for a vote as soon as Thursday.
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