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Senate passes bill to limit ID accepted by government officials

The state Senate debated the Protect North Carolina Workers Act Monday night, but most of the talk was about illegal immigration identification.

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By
Adam Owens
RALEIGH, N.C. — The state Senate debated the Protect North Carolina Workers Act on Monday night, but most of the talk was about illegal immigration identification.

Among other things, House Bill 318 would reduce the number of forms of ID government officials, including police, can accept. IDs handed out by individual cities and embassies would no longer be recognized.

Opponents of the bill said that it will place some people at odds with police. They said that witnesses and even victims of crime would be in fear of reporting to law enforcement.

Republicans backing the bill said it will make the state safer. Instead of working with so many unique ID cards across the state, law enforcement could rely on more universal forms of identification, they said.

Some said the issue should be left to the federal government to clean up.

Sanctuary city policies that keep police from asking about citizenship status would also go way under the bill.

Ultimately, the bill passed and will now move to the House for approval.

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