RALEIGH, N.C. (CN) — North Carolina Republican lawmakers, lobbying Democratic Governor Roy Cooper to support Texas in the Lone Star State's ongoing border dispute with the federal government, threatened during a Wednesday press conference to raise the issue during the short session and override Cooper.
Republicans in the North Carolina House of Representatives also sent Cooper a letter on Wednesday demanding that he take steps to help Texas Governor Greg Abbott and calling the Biden administration’s approach to immigration mediation “an absolute joke.”
“This crisis has effectively turned every state into a border state,” House speaker Tim Moore said. “Our state must stand in solidarity with Texas and Governor Abbott and support his efforts to defend our southern border and protect our citizens. This body urges you to stand with Governor Abbott and speak out in support of his actions to protect his state.”
North Carolina House Republicans want Governor Cooper to deploy additional North Carolina National Guard troops, and to order the 125 guardsmen already assigned to stop assisting the federal government, and instead support the Texas National Guard.
They also want a commitment from Cooper to sign legislation to require local police and sheriff departments to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That effort made it through the House but has stalled in the state Senate.
In addition, the GOP lawmakers asked Cooper not to cooperate in placing unauthorized immigrants in North Carolina.
“We made very clear to the governor that this is his chance to do the right thing to protect North Carolina. And if it doesn't happen, we’ll be back in session here in a couple months, and a supermajority of the state house is prepared to move forward with legislation to mandate these things,” Moore threatened.
North Carolina is facing an increase of fentanyl deaths and human and drug trafficking, which Moore he attributed to illegal immigration. In a letter signed by all 72 House Republicans, Moore wrote that the Biden administration’s open border policies have “wreaked havoc on our public safety, strained our social safety net, and weakened the rule of law in our country.”
“The federal government has just willfully abandoned its duty to protect the sovereignty of our nation, where they’ve just allowed the border to be thrown open, and just allowed complete lawlessness,” Moore said.
North Carolina is the last southeastern state not to support Abbott.
Cooper has largely avoided the discussion. He gave a passive statement to Fox8, a Greensboro TV station, after 25 Republican governors supported Texas’ actions to strengthen the border on Jan. 26.
“A bipartisan Senate is close to the strongest border security law in a generation but Donald Trump is telling Republicans to stop because a tough border law hurts his campaign. If Republican Governors really wanted strong border security now they would release a joint statement supporting this legislation instead of one that bows to Trump and urges violating the constitution and the rule of law,” Cooper said last week.
Moore said illegal immigration is a bipartisan issue, and that he considers it to be one of the top three issues voters are thinking of in the upcoming election.
“We believe it is a critical issue,” he said, “we think it is critical to what we need to do to protect North Carolinians and we’re hoping the governor will do that, and take action.”
Moore, who is running for Congress, refused to comment on the ongoing border security deal that is stagnating in the U.S. Senate. He said he’ll comment on what Congress does once he is elected.
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
