The GOP-led North Carolina House overrode their Democrat Governor’s veto of a bill that requires law enforcement to work with federal immigration officials. The new law will also punish so-called “sanctuary” cities for violations.
On Wednesday, the House passed the “North Carolina Border Protection Act” (SB 153) into law over the governor’s objections. After the legislature passed the bill at the end of 2024, Gov. Stein vetoed it in June of last year. The bill then spent the following year going in and out of debate before finally finding enough votes to override the veto this week, according to the Carolina Journal.
The new law strengthens the relationship between state law enforcement and federal immigration officials by requiring state policing agencies to work with ICE and other immigration officials and to observe federal immigration detainers of criminal illegals. In addition, the law will hold to account local cities or counties with policies that give illegals sanctuary, sanctioning them for violating the requirements to cooperate with the feds.
Republican State Senator Phil Berger, who sponsored the bill, praised the veto override vote and said on social media that the legislature was taking “decisive action to end sanctuary policies and tackle illegal immigration.”
The Franklin County GOP added that the newly minted law will “save lives.”
Meanwhile, across the country in the Midwest, the State of Indiana also passed a new immigration bill to require state law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
In February, the state legislature in the Hoosier State passed Senate Enrolled Act 76, also dubbed the FAIRNESS Act, which requires state law enforcement to comply with federal immigration detainers. The governor signed it in March, and the provisions are now going into effect as “Public Law 106.”
The new law also requires employers to hire only those employees who are legally authorized to work in the U.S.A. and sanctions employers who knowingly hire illegals. Employers could face the suspension of all business licenses among other penalties if caught violating the law, the Indiana Lawyer reported.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita warned businesses that with the full implementation of the FAIRNESS Act on July 1, his office will become more proactive about seeking out violators. “Starting July 1, you’re gonna see our office more and more at job sites like this to see exactly what’s going on and who’s being hired and how many,” he said in a press conference when the bill passed earlier this year.
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