North Carolina Republicans have pushed forward legislation to ban sanctuary jurisdictions, mandating that law enforcement work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hand over criminal illegal aliens. The state Senate’s Judiciary Committee passed a bill that would require police departments and sheriff’s offices in North Carolina to cooperate with ICE agents in apprehending criminal illegal aliens. Republicans, with their majority in the state House and Senate, are expected to pass the bill and overturn Governor Roy Cooper’s anticipated veto. The bill aims to prevent sanctuary jurisdictions like Buncombe County, Durham County, Forsyth County, Mecklenburg County, Orange County, and Wake County from protecting criminal illegal aliens by refusing to transfer them to ICE. Despite being known as a swing state, North Carolina houses some of the nation’s most dangerous sanctuary jurisdictions, with Wake County being named one of the worst in the country by the Immigration Reform Law Institute in 2022. President Donald Trump’s administration in 2020 used billboards to locate criminal illegal aliens who were released into communities in Mecklenburg County and Buncombe County. The state Senate is expected to vote on the bill this week after it was previously approved by the state House.
