Democrats see racial profiling in Senate bill that requires sheriffs cooperate with ICE

The state Senate on Thursday passed a weakened version of a measure requiring North Carolina sheriffs to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, but not before heated debate that included an allegation of racial profiling.

Senate Bill 101, dubbed Require Cooperation with ICE 2.0, states that local officials must determine the identity and immigration status of anyone charged with a violent crime and booked into their county or city jail. If they can't, they must request the assistance of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Anyone found to be in the U.S. illegally must, under the proposal, be held for 48 hours so ICE agents can pick them up.

Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed similar legislation two years ago – hence the 2.0 reference in the latest bill – because it included a provision that sheriffs who didn't abide by it could be removed from office.

Backers removed that provision from Senate Bill 101, and on Thursday, they removed the teeth they had put into it instead, dropping a section that called for charging anyone who refused to comply with the measure with a Class 3 misdemeanor.

They also added domestic violence-related charges to the list of offenses that would require ICE to be notified.

Still, Senate Democrats called the measure divisive and racially provocative.

"I personally know what it means to be stopped driving while black," said Sen. Paul Lowe, D-Forsyth. "I see this [bill] as profiling. Now, maybe that's not the intent, but for me, that's what it looks like."

Lowe said people who commit crimes in North Carolina should be prosecuted and punished in the state and not "put on a bus" for deportation only to return later.

"I certainly feel, here on the North Carolina Senate floor, I was called a racist," said bill sponsor Sen. Chuck Edwards, R-Henderson. "It matters not where the individual comes from or what they look like. The intent of this bill is to cooperate with federal law enforcement officers so that we can protect our citizens."

Co-sponsors Sens. Danny Britt, R-Robeson, and Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico, agreed with Edwards that cooperation between federal and local law enforcement is a public safety issue.

"No law enforcement officer in North Carolina is going out into the communities looking for these individuals," Sanderson said. "These are people who have been arrested for very, very violent crimes. ... When you commit a crime, there are consequences when you get caught."

"What we're talking about, again, is, are we going to support law and order, or are we not?" Britt said.

Sheriffs in Wake County, Mecklenburg County and other metro areas across the state have opposed the forced cooperation since it was first proposed two years ago. They argue that they weren't elected to enforce immigration law and that doing so would only erode the trust they have within their local Latino communities.

"This bill is about forcing [immigration action from] predominantly Black sheriffs, who are upholding their oath and duty to protect their community, including Black and brown communities," said Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, D-Wake. "How quickly we have moved now to fall prey to the politics of fear and division."

The bill passed on a 27-20, party-line vote and heads to the House.

"At a time when vaccines and economic relief to our communities impacted by COVID-19 should be the highest priority, lawmakers have decided to waste time and tax dollars on [measures] that would increase fear and mistrust in the immigrant community,” Iliana Santillan, executive director of Latino advocacy group El Pueblo, said in a statement. “We urge lawmakers to rethink this plan."