Raleigh. The State General Assembly is back for its short session starting with the discussion of an anti-immigrant bill that would force all North Carolina sheriffs to collaborate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

HB10 was already approved last year by the House of Representatives and will begin to be discussed this Tuesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it is expected to advance quickly as it is one of the top priorities of the Republican majority.

HB10 would force all sheriffs to notify ICE to determine the immigration status of detainees charged with certain crimes.

In addition, it would force them to comply with all ICE detainers and hold detainees for 48 hours so that immigration agents can take them into their custody.

This is the third time Republicans have tried to force that collaboration between ICE and the state’s sheriffs. Two other similar laws were passed by the Legislature in 2019 and 2021 but were both vetoed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.

This year, Republicans have the power to override the governor’s veto as they have supermajorities in both chambers.

In late January of this year, House Speaker Tim Moore demanded that Governor Cooper commit to signing legislation forcing sheriffs to collaborate with ICE and threatened that if he didn’t, Republicans would use their supermajority in the Legislature to do so.

At a news conference back then, Moore said immigration would be one of the top priorities during the short session, which officially began April 24.

In response to Moore, more than 70 organizations from across the state signed a letter addressed to Governor Cooper, asking him to commit to once again vetoing this legislation.

Organizations that oppose HB10 say that collaboration between sheriffs and ICE will affect trust between law enforcement and the immigrant community and make victims and witnesses of crimes prefer not to cooperate with law enforcement for fear of deportation.

In addition, they warn that this legislation would force state authorities to violate the constitutional rights of detainees by forcing them to hold such individuals beyond the legally established time and depriving them of their right to self-defense in state courts.