As Trump returns to White House, NC GOP moving to require sheriffs to cooperate with ICE
After five years of trying to require North Carolina sheriffs to cooperate with immigration authorities, GOP state lawmakers are expected to enact a bill that would do so over Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto next week.
The final passage of the bill would come as former President Donald Trump readies his second administration and prepares to implement his campaign promise to “carry out the largest deportation operation in history.” The bill would require cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement by local law enforcement that resisted the agency’s efforts during Trump’s first term.
Although it started out when introduced in January 2023 as a standalone immigration enforcement measure, House Bill 10 ultimately cleared the legislature in September as a “mini-budget” compromise bill between House and Senate Republicans.
The bill contained two major GOP priorities that had yet to pass both chambers: a requirement under state law that local law enforcement cooperate with ICE, and nearly $463 million in funding to clear the wait list for private school vouchers.
When lawmakers return to Raleigh next week, votes to override Cooper’s veto of the ICE cooperation and voucher funding bill are expected to be at the top of the agenda for Republicans.
House Rules Chairman Destin Hall, who is expected to succeed Speaker Tim Moore following Moore’s election to Congress last week, said during a news conference last week that both the House and Senate are planning to override Cooper’s veto of the bill on Tuesday, the first day lawmakers are back.
Republicans have defeated more than two dozen of Cooper’s vetoes since securing supermajorities in both chambers last year. Senate Republicans held onto their razor-thin 30-seat supermajority last week, but as of now, it appears that Democrats have broken the GOP’s three-fifths majority in the House by just one seat.
That could give Republicans urgency to act on more legislation during next week’s four-day session, or a final session of the year in December, before they lose the ability to override vetoes with just their members beginning in January.
Senate leader Phil Berger said during the press conference last week with Hall that “what we will do in those sessions beyond the override of House Bill 10 has not been determined at this time.”
Why are Republicans requiring sheriffs to work with ICE?
The political battle in North Carolina over local law enforcement cooperating with ICE dates back to the first Trump administration, and in particular, the 2018 midterms, when a number of sheriffs in largely Democratic counties like Wake and Mecklenburg came into office vowing to limit or end cooperation with the federal agency.
Republicans twice passed bills mandating ICE cooperation, in 2019 and 2022, but were unable to override Cooper’s vetoes of those bills after losing the supermajority in 2018.
State law already requires sheriffs to try to determine the legal status of people they arrest if they’re charged with a felony or for impaired driving, and notify ICE if they can’t ascertain legal status.
But there’s no provision in the law requiring sheriffs to comply with immigration detainers, which are requests from ICE to hold individuals who have been arrested and are believed to be in the country illegally, for up to 48 hours, to give ICE agents time to take custody of them.
Republicans say the bill is necessary because of the small number of sheriffs who don’t cooperate with ICE, unlike the vast majority of sheriffs who do.
Post-election power plays
In 2010, Republicans gained control of both the North Carolina House and Senate for the first time since the late 19th century. Two years later, the GOP secured a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. This meant that the GOP could pass bills without Democratic support and could largely override vetoes of bills without Democratic support.
But they lost that supermajority during the 2018 election.
This followed the GOP’s loss of the governor’s office in 2016, with Cooper, a Democrat, assuming office in 2017 after defeating Republican Pat McCrory, who had been in power since 2013.
With the impending takeover of the governor’s office by Democrats, the GOP passed several laws after the 2016 election cutting the governor’s power, including House Bill 17, which reduced the governor’s power to appoint members to various state boards and commissions.
Next year, the governor will again be a Democrat, with Attorney General Josh Stein defeating Lt. Gov Mark Robinson in the gubernatorial race.
Republican power without a supermajority
Lacking a supermajority from 2018 to 2022, the GOP-led House and Senate could pass bills without Democratic support but still needed Democrats for veto overrides.
Veto power allowed Cooper to play a key role in budget negotiations. The legislature and Cooper failed to agree on a state budget in 2019, but did reach a deal in 2021 on a budget that included raises, bonuses and tax cuts. It did not include Medicaid expansion, which had been on the negotiation table that year. Expansion ultimately passed in 2023.
Despite Cooper’s involvement, the budget included a provision limiting the governor’s emergency powers, which had appeared in previous vetoed bills. This provision came in response to Cooper’s use of emergency orders during the COVID-19 pandemic, including restrictions on businesses and mask mandates.
And while the budget passed, several bills proposed by the GOP-led legislature failed due to vetoes from Cooper and lack of Democratic support.
This scenario — a Democratic governor and a legislature with a GOP majority but not a supermajority — is the one Republicans will likely face next year.
In 2022, Republicans came close to regaining their supermajority, falling just one seat short in the House. That allowed them to gain back full control when Rep. Tricia Cotham switched parties from Democrat to Republican in 2023.
What the GOP has done with a supermajority
Here’s a look at just a few of the actions Republicans have taken while holding supermajorities, which could also offer insights into some of the GOP’s priorities in the upcoming weeks before they lose full control:
▪ The 2016 bill that became known nationally as the “bathroom bill,” and which was later repealed. It required people in schools and other government buildings to use bathrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificate, rather than their gender identity.
▪ Various versions of a mandate that voters show acceptable photo identification when they go to the polls. That included a constitutional amendment sent to voters, who approved it. The state Supreme Court, which at the time had a Democratic majority, struck down a 2018 voter ID law, saying it intentionally discriminated against Black voters. But that decision was reversed by the now-Republican-majority Supreme Court, meaning voter ID requirements are now in effect.
▪ A 12-week abortion ban. Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, the authority to regulate abortion was returned to the states. In mid-2023, overriding Cooper’s veto, the GOP-led legislature passed the new restrictions.
▪ Legislative and congressional district maps redrawn to favor Republicans. Courts rejected several of these plans, but the most recent maps drafted in 2023 were used for the 2024 election.
This story was originally published November 13, 2024 at 8:00 AM with the headline "As Trump returns to White House, NC GOP moving to require sheriffs to cooperate with ICE."
