NC Republicans override Stein’s immigration veto with help from a Democrat
North Carolina legislators enacted a Republican bill into law Tuesday over Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s veto that requires greater cooperation by local law enforcement with federal immigration authorities.
Lawmakers successfully overrode Stein’s veto with a 30-19 vote in the Senate Tuesday morning. The House began the process earlier in the morning, voting 72-48 to defeat the veto. Republicans, who are one seat short of the three-fifths majority required to override vetoes, were joined in the vote by Democratic Rep. Carla Cunningham of Charlotte.
Also earlier on Tuesday, the Senate voted to override Stein’s veto of another, more sweeping immigration enforcement bill.
Senate Republicans control the three-fifths majority, also referred to as a supermajority, that is required to override vetoes, and in a party-line vote Tuesday morning, successfully voted to override Stein’s veto of Senate Bill 153 in a 30-19 party-line vote.
The bill was returned to the House, where GOP lawmakers are one seat shy of the 72-seat threshold that needs to be met for an override.
The House, meanwhile, had voted to override Stein’s veto of HB 318 with one Democrat, Rep. Carla Cunningham, who voted for a major immigration enforcement bill last year, and supported this bill when it first passed, joining the GOP, providing them the last vote they needed to defeat the veto.
Cunningham gave a fiery speech defending her support for the bill in which she argued that immigrants should “assimilate” and “adapt to the culture of the country they wish to live in.” She also said the United States “has been more tolerant than most other countries” and has been “exploited and abused by the different tactics to gain citizenship in America.”
“A large number of people entering a country can change it forever,” Cunningham said.
The Democrat’s remarks were interrupted a few times as a few people watching the debate from the House gallery appeared to try to disrupt the debate by coughing loudly, prompting a rebuke from House Speaker Destin Hall, who urged onlookers in the gallery to observe the vote quietly.
Cunningham was later strongly criticized for her remarks by other Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Sydney Batch, who told reporters on Tuesday evening that the comments “ridiculous” and “absolutely uncalled for.”
Batch said she hoped Cunningham would apologize.
The Senate successfully completed the override on HB 318, since Republicans have an outright supermajority on their own. It’s unclear if House Republicans will have 72 votes to override the veto SB 153.
“We all know last November, North Carolinians told us that they wanted us to take action about the border crisis and about illegal immigration,” Sen. Buck Newton, a Wilson County Republican, said. “...We need to take that a step further.”
Democrats, however, said the bill forces unnecessary work on local law enforcement and creates a culture of fear.
“This bill is not about safety — It’s about intimidation,” Sen Natalie Murdock, a Durham County Democrat, said. “It’s about fear-mongering and it’s about targeting vulnerable people who come to North Carolina seeking a better life.”
What is SB 153, the NC Border Protection Act?
SB 153, named the “North Carolina Border Protection Act,” was introduced in February by Senate leader Phil Berger.
The bill seeks to build on last year’s House Bill 10, which required all of the state’s 100 sheriffs to honor temporary detainer requests issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. SB 153 would expand ICE cooperation beyond local law enforcement to state agencies that are overseen by Stein.
Specifically, four agencies, the N.C. Departments of Adult Correction and Public Safety, and the State Highway Patrol and State Bureau of Investigation, would be required to participate in the federal 287(g) program, which allows state and local officers to carry out immigration enforcement duties usually performed by federal agents, under ICE’s training and supervision.
Stein vetoed the bill, saying that “at a time when our law enforcement is already stretched thin, this bill takes state law enforcement officers away from their existing state duties and forces them to act as federal immigration agents.”
Bill says NC should assist Trump in immigration enforcement
When Berger and other Senate Republicans introduced the bill earlier this year, they said the state should be assisting the Trump administration in its immigration enforcement and deportation efforts. Berger spokesperson Lauren Horsch said at the time that Republicans were taking action because Stein “has yet to take a clear stance on cooperating with federal immigration officials and President Trump’s efforts to address the border crisis.”
The bill also directs state agencies to ensure that immigrants without legal status don’t receive a variety of state-funded benefits, including housing assistance and unemployment, though they are already largely ineligible for these programs.
Another provision of the bill would make it possible for local governments that implement so-called sanctuary policies to be sued if a person who is in the country illegally commits a crime in their jurisdiction.
When SB 153 originally passed both chambers of the General Assembly before being sent to Stein’s desk, it was approved strictly along party lines, without the support of any Democrats. That means an override in the House will likely be trickier for Republicans.
Bill changes the way sheriffs work with ICE
HB 318, which was spearheaded by Hall, aims to strengthen HB 10, the ICE cooperation law focused on sheriffs that was enacted last year over a veto from former Gov. Roy Cooper.
The bill would require sheriffs to notify ICE before releasing anyone in their custody who the agency is seeking with an immigration detainer. It would also require sheriffs to attempt to determine the immigration status of anyone charged with a felony or drunk driving. Previous legislation narrowed this requirement to only people charged with high-level violent crimes.
Stein said he supported the bill’s provisions requiring sheriffs to contact immigration authorities about people charged with violent and dangerous crimes, but still vetoed it over the requirement that sheriffs hold people beyond the time they would otherwise be released, which he said was unconstitutional.
This story was originally published July 29, 2025 at 9:30 AM with the headline "NC Republicans override Stein’s immigration veto with help from a Democrat."
