Mecklenburg sheriff says NC bill on immigration detainers is ‘political move’
Republicans in North Carolina’s General Assembly are once again trying to pass legislation that would require local sheriffs to detain undocumented individuals accused of certain crimes for immigration authorities. Advocates and Mecklenburg’s sheriff are, once again, pushing back.
Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden has been against it since his first day on the job in 2018 when he ended the county’s 287(g) agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The agreement allowed sheriff’s deputies to perform immigration enforcement duties inside the county jail, with supervision from ICE. This program sent 15,000 people into deportation proceedings from 2006-2018 and ending it was a major part of McFadden’s campaign for office, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
Since ending the agreement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities have been locked in a public feud with McFadden.
ICE issued a statement in 2019 opposing Mecklenburg’s decision to end the previous cooperation agreement.
“The only persons protected by these misguided policies are criminals as the only way a person is subject to a detainer is if they’ve been arrested for a crime beyond anything to do with their immigration status,” Acting ICE Director Matt Albence said at the time.
ICE publicly blamed McFadden for the release of Luis Pineda-Ancheta, a 37-year-old native of Honduras, who had been charged with domestic violence-related offenses and re-entry. After his release from the jail he was involved in a nine-hour SWAT standoff, the Observer previously reported.
Following the standoff, ICE officials said they had issued a detainer for Pineda-Ancheta, and that if the detainer had been honored by the sheriff’s office, the standoff wouldn’t have occurred. McFadden denied responsibility and said a magistrate or judge, not the sheriff or his deputies, is responsible for determining if — and how — someone is released from jail.
Existing state law requires sheriffs to notify immigration authorities if they can’t determine the citizenship status of someone in custody charged with a felony or impaired driving offense. The law doesn’t require sheriffs to detain an undocumented person if they are otherwise eligible for release.
HB10 and SB50, if passed, would require sheriffs to detain an undocumented person if ICE has issued an administrative or detainer warrant for them, and it expands the list of charges that would trigger ICE notification. Advocates say this will harm community relations between undocumented individuals and the sheriff’s office.
Sheriffs would have to take the undocumented person before a judge and then detain the individual for 48 hours, or until ICE takes custody of the person or rescinds the order to hold them.
The new list of charges that would trigger ICE notification includes: Felony drug crimes, homicide, rape and other sex offenses, kidnapping, human trafficking, gang-related crimes, assaults, and violations of a valid protective order.
Previous attempts to pass similar legislation in 2019 and 2022 failed after Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the bills, the News & Observer previously reported.
“This law is only about scoring political points and using fear to divide North Carolinians,” Cooper said in his 2022 veto message. “As the state’s former top law enforcement officer, I know that current law already allows the state to incarcerate and prosecute dangerous criminals regardless of immigration status.
Rep. Destin Hall, a Republican and the primary sponsor of the bill, said the bill is necessary to ensure “a small number of sheriffs” cooperate with ICE, the News & Observer reported.
“We’re dealing with a bill that would simply require all sheriffs in the state to do what almost every single sheriff has already been doing,” Hall said during a recent meeting of the House Judiciary 2 Committee.
If the bill becomes law it would take effect Dec. 1 of this year. Sheriffs would be required to report specific findings related to how many times they notified ICE of an arrest to the General Assembly beginning in 2024.
The bill has passed committee and is awaiting an official vote from the House.
The NC Sheriff’s Association said they have “no position” on the legislation.
Mecklenburg Sheriff Garry McFadden and some local non-profit organizations say this bill would be devastating for undocumented victims of crime. McFadden emphasized in an interview that the bill seeks to take away some authority of local sheriffs, and that sheriffs are already required to cooperate with ICE by notifying them of undocumented persons in custody who are charged with felonies or driving while impaired.
ICE enforcement in North Carolina
McFadden isn’t the only sheriff in the state who has pushed back. Sheriffs in Wake, Buncombe, Wilson, Orange, and Durham counties all signed a letter condemning the bill on Wednesday.
The sheriffs wrote that the bill would add substantial administrative burdens on their offices and harm community trust.
“These bills will make our counties less safe. Multiple studies show that mandatory immigration enforcement makes people less likely to trust government authorities without improving public safety,” the sheriffs wrote.
The proposed legislation is a direct attack against himself, and other sheriffs in the state who curbed their involvement with ICE, McFadden said.
“This is a political move, it’s nothing but a political move with the Republican legislation, and also several local sheriffs.”
The bill would undermine the authority of local sheriffs and their communities and make it so that local communities can’t determine their own policies, McFadden said.
“HB10 and SB50 seek to force every duly elected Sheriff in North Carolina to honor voluntary Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers, even if the sheriff and the respective communities they serve oppose such cooperation with ICE,” McFadden said in a statement about the bills.
Enlace Latino NC, a non-profit advocacy organization, said in statements posted to social media the bill would contribute little security to communities and only stimulates more fear within the families of undocumented individuals.
“HB10/SB50 doesn’t make us safer. Instead, it terrorizes our communities, resulting in increased family separation, racial profiling & the undermining of relationships between immigrant communities and law enforcement,” Enlace Latino NC posted on Twitter.
The group said it would make victims, such as domestic violence survivors, hesitant to report crimes.
This story was originally published March 2, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
