North Carolina’s Democratic governor has vetoed downright authoritarian legislation penned by state Republicans that would have forced sheriffs to collaborate with mass deportation agents, threatening them with massive fines and even empowering the state to remove them from their posts if they refused to cooperate.
“This legislation is simply about scoring partisan political points and using fear to divide North Carolina,” Gov. Roy Cooper said. “This bill, in addition to being unconstitutional, weakens law enforcement in North Carolina by mandating sheriffs to do the job of federal agents.”
Republicans vindictively introduced the bill because state voters ousted a number of Republican, pro-deportation sheriffs from office in November. "We have been actively having conversations about worst-case scenarios with all the new sheriffs that have removed 287g from their counties,” an immigrant rights advocate said at the time, “and this was definitely one of those that we definitely did not want to happen.”
Sheriffs warned that “the implications of the revised HB370 go far beyond immigration. It is a move by the General Assembly to chip away at the Sheriff’s authority over how we operate our jails and instruct our deputies.” The bill would have fined sheriffs who refused to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents up to $25,550 a day.
Republicans introduced this bill to stomp on the will of the voters, but thanks to the efforts from local immigrant rights advocates in the state and the governor, they lost. “At a time when voters in North Carolina and across the country want real solutions instead of manufactured fear-mongering, the veto is a meaningful step forward,” said Douglas Rivlin of immigrant rights advocacy group America’s Voice.