The Republican leadership in the state General Assembly was quick to join the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant efforts and has responded with dangerous bills seeking to force more state agencies to assist in immigrant deportation efforts, disregarding the harm to state security and the state’s economy.
Senate Leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Destin Hall are the main sponsors of the two main attacks on immigrants: SB 153, the North Carolina Border Protection Act, and HB 318, the Illegal Alien Law Enforcement Act.
The first passed through two committees and the full Senate in March in just a few days, while the second passed easily through the House of Representatives in April, so both are halfway to becoming law.
The two bills extend the scope of the anti-immigrant law HB 10, which the GOP-controlled Legislature passed last year after overriding a veto by then-Governor Roy Cooper, to require all state sheriffs to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
SB 153 requires four state agencies under the supervision of Democratic Governor Josh Stein, including the State Highway Patrol and the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), to sign cooperation agreements with ICE to assist in the identification and detention of undocumented immigrants.
It also echoes Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric by calling for a state audit of all social programs to ensure that no undocumented immigrants receive state benefits, even though they are already barred from receiving them under current law.
It also mandates that state universities must allow ICE access to campuses and share information on the immigration status of students and faculty, which will facilitate the federal government’s arrests of international students and professors.
Finally, it threatens local governments that establish so-called sanctuary policies to protect immigrants with the removal of government immunity and become liable to lawsuits from any citizen who feels affected by illegal immigration.
HB 318 extends the impact and fills the gaps in the anti-immigrant law HB 10 of 2024, which requires all sheriffs to cooperate with ICE, a law also sponsored by Hall.
That bill expands the list of offenses that trigger immigration status checks for detainees in state jails, increases the time they must be held before ICE takes them into custody, and requires sheriffs to notify the federal agency before releasing them.
Both Berger and Hall have been vocal in defending these and other bills that seek to criminalize immigrants and facilitate the Trump administration’s campaign of mass deportations.
Neither has been willing to listen to the arguments of civil rights organizations warning that collaboration between local law enforcement agencies and ICE does not make our communities safer, but rather the opposite.
Experience has shown that these policies generate fear and mistrust in the immigrant community, which reduces the number of crime victims and witnesses cooperating with authorities and opens the door for racial discrimination and human rights violations by law enforcement agents.
General Assembly leaders also fail to consider the economic cost to the state of using taxpayer money for federal activities, and the risk of losing vital labor force for key industries such as agriculture and construction as a result of mass deportations.
CRIMINALIZING IMMIGRANTS
In addition to attempting to expand state agencies’ collaboration with ICE, the Republican majority in the Legislature is determined to criminalize undocumented immigrants living in the state, through blatantly discriminatory and unnecessary bills like HB261 and HB690, which are also halfway to becoming law..
HB261, sponsored by Republican leaders, seeks to increase penalties for certain crimes when the defendant is an undocumented immigrant. This means that the defendant receives a harsher sentence than other defendants solely because of their immigration status.
HB 690, like SB 153, is based on the false premise that undocumented immigrants benefit from social programs and mandates various state agencies to conduct audits to ensure none of them receive state aid.
Current law already prevents undocumented immigrants from accessing public benefits, and there is no evidence that they are evading established controls, so legislation like this is completely unnecessary.
All of these legislative efforts, spearheaded by Berger and Hall, align dangerously with the Trump administration’s dangerous anti-immigrant rhetoric, failing to consider the enormous contributions immigrants make and the harm these policies could have on North Carolina.