Raleigh. Republican majority leaders in the North Carolina Legislature are threatening to override Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s vetoes of two anti-immigrant bills that seek to expand the collaboration of state agencies with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“Make no mistake, the North Carolina House of Representatives will override the Governor’s veto as soon as possible,” House Speaker Destin Hall and author of the anti-immigrant bill HB318 said in a statement posted on X.
Hall said that, with his veto, Governor Stein made it clear that “he stands with criminal illegal aliens and the most radical elements of his party’s base over the safety and security of North Carolinians.”
Sen. Phil Berger, the Senate leader and author of the other anti-immigrant bill SB153, also criticized Stein’s decision and threatened to override his veto.
“Today, Gov. Stein proved where his allegiances are. He’d rather prioritize his far-left donors and their dangerous open-border policies over the citizens of North Carolina who are desperately pleading for us to put an end to the illegal immigration crisis,” Berger said in a statement. “I look forward to the Senate overriding his veto.”
A DEMOCRATIC VOTE WOULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE
To override the governor’s veto, the Legislature requires the approval of three-fifths of the members present in both chambers.
Republicans have enough votes in the Senate, where they have a supermajority of 30 of the 50 members. However, in the House of Representatives they have 71 of the 72 votes required, so they would need the vote or absence of at least one Democrat to override Stein’s vetoes.
Democrats have opposed SB153 as a block, but not in the case of HB318, which has been supported by Mecklenburg Democratic Rep. Carla Cunningham.
HB318 extends and tightens HB10 passed last year, which requires all sheriffs in the state to cooperate with ICE.
Cunningham, who also supported HB10 last year, has said during debates about HB318 that she wants her sheriff to collaborate with ICE, because she believes this will help curb fentanyl overdose deaths in her district.
If Cunningham doesn’t change her position, Democrats wouldn’t be able to sustain Stein’s veto on HB318.
Berger and Hall, who manage the legislative agenda, could call a vote at any moment to try to override the governor’s vetoes.
Stein vetoed HB318 and SB318 last Friday in the last of the 10-day deadline he had to take action on them, after several days of protests outside his Raleigh mansion, where several organizations, groups and community members asked him to veto both anti-immigrant legislation.
