Where NC's governor candidates stand on making sheriffs work with federal immigration officers

As state lawmakers get closer to forcing sheriffs to work with federal immigration officials, protesters marched on the legislature Wednesday — and North Carolina’s two leading candidates for governor are weighing in.

Two previous versions of a controversial proposal requiring sheriffs to honor detention requests by immigration agents, which are currently optional, were vetoed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. Both times Republicans couldn’t muster the votes to override his veto. But Republicans now have a veto-proof supermajority, and the bill, House Bill 10, is likely to become law. It passed the state House last year and could come up for a vote in the state Senate as early as this week.

Some Democratic sheriffs, particularly in the state’s biggest counties, say working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement does more harm than good to public safety in their counties. Those sheriffs — as well as local Hispanic residents — have repeatedly told state lawmakers over the past few years that immigrants of any legal status are much less likely to report crimes, serve as witnesses or otherwise help law enforcement if they know that their local law enforcement also works with ICE.

"It's an effort to paint our community members as criminals," said Iliana Santillan, who leads the Hispanic advocacy group El Pueblo, during Wednesday's protest. "We've seen the data from other states that have implemented similar laws. People are being detained for minor infractions or even just because of how they look."

But Republican legislators say those sheriffs shouldn’t be allowed to choose not to work with ICE, and that cooperation should be mandatory. Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican Party’s nominee for governor, agrees.

“North Carolina cannot be a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants,” Robinson told WRAL in a statement from his campaign.

Robinson’s statement went on to criticize his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Josh Stein, for his past political support of some of the Democratic sheriffs who have said they don’t want to work with ICE. Some of them include Wake County Sheriff Willie Rowe, who Stein endorsed in 2022, and Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller, who Stein gave an award to in 2021 for his work on cutting down a backlog of untested evidence in sexual assault cases — an issue Stein has prioritized as attorney general.

While it’s true that Stein has supported Democratic sheriffs, just as Robinson has supported Republican sheriffs, it’s less clear where Stein stands on the specific issue of making those sheriffs work with ICE.

When asked about his stance on the bill, Stein’s campaign declined to answer the question.

“If someone is convicted of a crime, especially a violent one, we will hold them accountable,” Stein said in a statement. “As the state’s top law enforcement officer, my focus is on solutions to keep people safe here in North Carolina. I’ve listened to sheriffs and local law enforcement officers’ concerns and urged the legislature to give them the funding they need to keep us safe.”

A departure from Cooper’s position?

Stein’s decision not to take a stance on the bill is notable given Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s two recent vetoes of similar versions of this proposal. They came in 2019 — as he was mounting his own reelection campaign — and again in 2022.

And Cooper was not subtle about his opposition to the idea.

“This legislation is simply about scoring partisan political points and using fear to divide North Carolina,” Cooper wrote when he vetoed the 2019 version of the bill.

“This bill is unconstitutional and weakens law enforcement in North Carolina by mandating sheriffs to do the job of federal agents, using local resources that could hurt their ability to protect their counties,” he wrote in vetoing the 2022 version.

But in 2024 as Stein seeks to replace the term-limited Cooper, polling shows voters on both sides of the aisle are worried about immigrants, especially from Central and South America.

What voters are saying

A WRAL News poll in March found that immigration is the single most important issue for Republican voters, followed by the economy. It was much further down the list for Democrats, ranking sixth out of 10 issues polled on.

But when the poll asked voters what — if anything — they thought should be done about immigration, voters of all political stripes tended to support a crackdown: 87% of Republicans said immigration across the southern border should be reduced or totally shut down, as did 71% of Democrats and 77% of unaffiliated voters.

“It looks like this is a winning issue for Republicans,” Western Carolina University political scientist Chris Cooper told WRAL when those results were first published. “And it’s not as much of a losing issue among Democrats as, frankly, I thought it might be.”

Stein could soon find himself in the thick of that debate, not just as a political candidate but in his official role, too.

On Tuesday, a state Senate committee approved a change to the bill that would make Stein — and any future attorney general — in charge of enforcing the rules against any sheriffs who might continue not working with ICE even if the bill becomes law.

It would go into effect in July, just as the campaign for governor will be heating up in advance of the November elections. The change was proposed by Sen. Buck Newton, R-Wilson, who Stein defeated in the 2016 election for attorney general.

The attorney general’s office didn’t ask for that change, state Department of Justice spokeswoman Nazneen Ahmed told WRAL. She declined to comment on the bill in general, saying Stein’s office is still reviewing the proposal.