NC Senate approves GOP bill requiring sheriffs to cooperate with ICE

A GOP measure that would require North Carolina sheriffs to cooperate with immigration authorities cleared the North Carolina Senate on Thursday.

House Bill 10 is the third iteration of legislation Republicans have been trying to pass since 2019, in response to sheriffs in largely Democratic counties coming into office in 2018 vowing to cut back or end cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The House passed this bill in March 2023, but the Senate didn’t take it up until lawmakers reconvened for this year’s short session last week. The bill quickly moved through two Senate committees this week, before passing the full chamber Thursday morning in a 28-16 vote.

Sheriffs are already required under state law to try to determine the legal status of people they arrest, and inform ICE if they can’t do so. But they don’t have to honor immigration detainers from the federal agency — requests to hold someone who has been arrested and is believed to be in the country illegally, for up to 48 hours, to give ICE agents time to come and take custody.

That’s the main change HB 10 would make: requiring sheriffs to comply with those detainer requests.

The bill also requires sheriffs to notify ICE if they charge someone with certain high-level offenses, including homicide, rape and other sex offenses, kidnapping, and human trafficking, and cannot determine the person’s legal status.

While in committee this week, the bill was amended to include a provision that would allow anyone, including law enforcement authorities, to file a complaint with the North Carolina attorney general if they believe sheriffs or jail administrators aren’t complying with the provisions of the bill.

The attorney general could proceed to seek a court order to compel cooperation with ICE, said Republican Sen. Buck Newton of Wilson, who offered the amendment and said it was necessary to make sure the law is enforced.