If we really cared about immigration enforcement in NC, we’d do what works | Opinion

I was proud to vote against North Carolina Senate Bill 153 and House Bill 318, two immigration enforcement bills that chose fear and bureaucracy over real solutions and constitutional integrity.

Supporters of these bills want you to believe they are about protecting the public from violent offenders. But that is not what these bills do. In reality, they expand the role of local law enforcement in federal immigration operations through broad mandates that are legally risky, practically ineffective and damaging to public trust.

Senate Bill 153 forces sheriffs to comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer requests even without a judge’s order. It eliminates local discretion by threatening removal from office for noncompliance. Under this law, someone could be held up to 48 hours after their release date based solely on ICE’s request, with no charges, no trial and no judicial review. That violates the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable seizures and raises due process concerns under the Fourteenth Amendment.

House Bill 318 is more procedurally structured but still problematic. It expands the list of charges that trigger mandatory immigration status checks to include any felony and impaired-driving offenses, regardless of severity. If ICE cannot verify legal status and issues a detainer or administrative warrant, the person must be brought before a judge or magistrate. Only then may continued detention be authorized. On paper, this may sound like oversight. In practice, it creates risks for profiling, wrongful detention and inconsistent application, particularly in counties without adequate legal infrastructure or language access.

These are not bills designed to stop crime. They are bills that burden local officials with federal responsibilities that carry legal and human consequences. They also represent a serious case of legislative overreach into local government operations. They impose complex new duties on county jails, sheriffs and magistrates without allocating a single dollar in state funding to support the increased workload. Jail administrators are now expected to coordinate with ICE, prepare documentation for judicial review and track detainees on the state’s timeline, all while managing existing caseloads and staffing shortages. This is the legislative version of: “You figure it out — and by the way, we’re watching.” It burdens counties, already struggling with outdated facilities, short-staffed jails and a recruitment crisis in law enforcement.

If we wanted to address immigration enforcement in a serious, lawful and effective way, we would be investing in systems that can actually respond. We would be fully funding our court system. We would be hiring more magistrates and public defenders to process cases efficiently. We would be staffing the Department of Public Safety to the levels needed for timely and lawful enforcement. Instead of funding real solutions, we are legislating pressure and uncertainty.

We already addressed ICE detainer compliance last year with House Bill 10, a law that requires cooperation in cases involving serious criminal charges. That law is on the books and functioning. Senate Bill 153 and House Bill 318 go far beyond that, turning ICE requests into near-automatic detention triggers and stretching the legal boundaries of what local law enforcement should be asked to do.

Law enforcement leaders across the state, including sheriffs who serve on the front lines, have raised warnings. They understand these policies erode trust in the communities they serve. When people fear that contact with police could lead to deportation, they stop reporting abuse. They stop showing up in court. They stop cooperating with investigations. That does not make anyone safer.

I did not come to Raleigh to approve unconstitutional policy or to criminalize working families through legislative performance. I came to do the real work, to uphold the Constitution and protect every member of our community.

I was proud to vote against Senate Bill 153 and House Bill 318. We do not build safer communities by undermining due process. We build them by funding justice. And I would rather be on the right side of the Constitution than the wrong side of history.