Raleigh. A modified version of the anti-immigrant bill HB318, which seeks to expand a 2024 legislation that requires all state sheriffs to collaborate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was approved by the House Judiciary Committee 2 with support from the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association.
The text approved with just Republican support modifies the crimes that require sheriffs or jail administrators to consult with ICE to determine the immigration status of detainees, adds a section that obliges judicial magistrates to make the same consultation before releasing detainees, and modifies the date on which this legislation would take effect if approved.
The other two controversial provisions of HB318 remain in the text: the retention of detainees for up to 48 hours from the time they meet the conditions to be released if there is no ICE detainer against them, and the mandate for sheriffs to notify ICE about the date and time they would be released.
THE NEW VERSION OF HB318
The original text of HB318 listed a number of felonies to trigger consultation with ICE on the immigration status of detainees, but the new version now includes any felonies and maintains offenses related to driving a vehicle while impaired.
In addition, it adds a section to force judicial magistrates to try to determine the immigration status of detainees accused of these crimes, before determining the conditions of their pretrial release.
If they are not able to determinate the immigration status, magistrates must send detainees to a jail to be fingerprinted for a query with ICE, after which they must be held for two hours waiting for the federal agency to issue a detainer against them.
The new version of the bill also brings forward the effective date of this legislation to October 1, 2025, instead of December 1 indicated in the original text.
SHERIFFS SUPPORT
During the Judiciary Committee 2 debate, the vice president of the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association, Eddie Caldwell, spoke in favor of HB318.
“The current language in the bill results in more clarity with the current law and more uniformity for the sheriffs across the state,” Caldwell said. ” It tightens up the process in the current statute to make sure that dangerous criminals are not released back into our communities.”
Representatives of organizations that advocate for immigrants’ rights, including El Pueblo and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of North Carolina, spoke out against the bill.
“This type of legislation like HB318 amplifies the anti-immigrant narrative that ignores the enormous contributions of the immigrant population, increases the risk of racial profiling, and only generates more fear and distrust with law enforcement,” said Mario Alfaro, policy manager for El Pueblo.
During the debate, Republican Representative Brian Echevarria, one of the two Latino legislators in the General Assembly, also spoke in favor of the bill. He stated that not all immigrants are part of the same community, making the distinction into “legal” and “illegal” immigrants.
“My name is Brian Echevarria and my family is from Cuba,” Echevarria said in Spanish and then continued in English. “They came here legally; I also have family from the Bahamas who waited 5 and 10 years to come here legally.”
“I come from a family of immigrants. None of them are offended by this bill, because they are all legal immigrants, and we keep trying to mesh the illegal immigrant with the legal immigrant and pretend it’s one community, but no. We all live here but we are not all part of the same community, and our circumstances are not the same,” he added.
HB318 was sent to the House Rules and Operations Committee.
