(The Center Square) – Eroding North Carolina of criminals, in particular those who entered the country illegally and then broke more laws, continues to get a push from lawmakers in the Republican Party, the president, and forecast soon ICE.
The General Assembly on Nov. 20 overturned a gubernatorial veto to require all 100 sheriffs to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Since the convening of the 119th Congress, four proposals for the entire country have been sponsored by North Carolinians, and 15 others have been cosponsored by 11 of the state’s 16-member delegation.
ICE has issued statements on its removal operations, though none are yet to include the state. On Thursday of last week on its social media site, the agency began releasing daily totals for arrests and detainers lodged. Late Tuesday afternoon, ICE had produced 4,521 arrests and 3,519 detainers.
The Center Square was unsuccessful getting response from ICE on when removal operations would ramp up in North Carolina. The Center for Immigration Studies believes sanctuary areas exist in Buncombe, Chatham, Durham, Forsyth, Guilford, Mecklenburg, Orange, Wake and Watauga counties.
“Deportations are just one tool of many we’re going to have to leverage to secure our border and to disincentivize people from coming here illegally,” freshman U.S. Rep. Brad Knott, R-N.C., said in an interview he reposted on social media. “For years, there has been absolutely no fear of our immigration laws. There has been no fear of coming here illegally. And there has only been benefit.
“When you can come here illegally and you can secure benefits of in the form of food, housing, health care, education for your children – whatever it may be – there needs to be a clawback, so to speak, so that the American citizens and legal immigrants are protected and that they’re the ones that we, the government, serve.”
Knott and others say the priority now is on the most dangerous who have illegally come to America.
“I fully support targeting these deportations effectively, efficiently on a broad scale especially toward those who are the most dangerous,” he said. “And then I also support changing the laws to make it more punitive for people who want to be here and commit crimes.”
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., is the rules chairman of the House of Representatives and indirectly signaled on social media that Knott will get a chance to vote to do just that. She wrote “This is a progress. Great start @Sec_Noem” to a post and video by just-confirmed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday morning that read, “7 AM in NYC. Getting the dirt bags off the streets.”
Noem wore protective gear emblazoned with the words police and ICE.
The list of proposals from congressional lawmakers is growing, but in contrast to the era of President Barack Obama and former First Lady Hillary Clinton, it is without the state’s Democrats.
In a Nov. 20, 2014, evening address to the nation, Obama said the immigration system was broken and he offered fixes to include a route for immigrants to remain. He did say, “If you meet the criteria, you can come out of the shadows and get right with the law. If you’re a criminal, you’ll be deported.”
Clinton, multiple times, dating to at least 2008, has said as a presidential candidate deporting criminals was part of her plans for illegal immigration. In a March 2016 debate with Trump, she said, “My priorities are to deport violent criminals, terrorists, and anyone who threatens our safety.”
So far in this session of Congress, North Carolina Democratic U.S. Reps. Don Davis, Deborah Ross, Valerie Foushee, and Alma Adams have yet to author or join the sponsorship of bills in that vein. Foushee, however, is a cosponsor of a deportation bill from Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.
Foushee is a cosponsor for Omar’s Neighbors Not Enemies Act, or House Resolution 630. The proposal would fully repeal the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 that allows the president to “detain or deport foreign nationals from a specific country,” her release says.
Republican President Donald Trump plans to sign the Laken Riley Act on Wednesday afternoon, the first legislation he’ll sign in his second term. That bill was cosponsored by Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, each of whom have authored other bills.
The Laken Riley Act requires detainment of “aliens under federal law” who have been arrested for burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting. The bill also authorizes states to sue the federal government for decisions or alleged failures related to immigration enforcement, according to Congress.gov.
Reps. Chuck Edwards and David Rouzer have penned bills under consideration in the House of Representatives. Edwards also brought the companion piece for a Tillis measure.
Elsewhere in the Senate for Tillis and Budd:
• End Child Trafficking Now Act, Senate Bill 112, Tillis cosponsor. The bill of Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., requires a DNA test to determine the relationship between immigrants illegally in the country and any accompanying children.
• Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act, Senate Bill 185, Tillis sponsor, Budd cosponsor. This provides “a civil remedy for individuals harmed by sanctuary jurisdiction policies.”
In the House, Edwards has brought Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act in the form of House Resolution 611 as a companion to Tillis’ bill.
• POLICE Act of 2025, Senate Bill 212, Budd sponsor, Tillis cosponsor. The acronym is for Protect Our Law Enforcement with Immigration Control and Enforcement. This adds to the Laken Riley Act, which requires ICE to detain someone illegally in the country who assaults a lawman by making such an assault on lawmen, firefighters, or other first responders a deportable offense.
• Justice for Jocelyn Act, Senate Bill 72, Budd cosponsor. The bill of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is connected to the death of Jocelyn Nungaray. It would, according to Congress.gov, “remove aliens who fail to comply with a release order, to enroll all aliens on the ICE nondetailed docket in the Alternatives to Detention program with continuous GPS monitoring.”
• Sarah’s Law, Senate Bill 84, Budd cosponsor. The proposal of Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, is tied to the Jan. 31, 2016, death of Sarah Root in Nebraska by a drunk driver – with a .241 alcohol content, and on the ICE Most Wanted list – who came illegally to America. The bill would require ICE “to take into custody certain aliens who have been charged win the United States with a crime that resulted in the death or serious bodily injury of another person.”
The House also has a version of Sarah’s Law, introduced by Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, and cosponsored by Rouzer, Edwards and Rep. Addison McDowell. Root was from Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Conspicuous by absence, though stance not questioned, Rep. Tim Moore is the lone Republican from North Carolina in the House with no authorship or cosponsoring of bills that tie to border security and public safety. As state House speaker, he helped lead the veto of former Gov. Roy Cooper requiring ICE cooperation.
Moore went to Eagle Pass, Texas, in fall 2023 and vowed support last year in the General Assembly for any legislation that makes “sure North Carolina is not a haven in any way” for people who by illegal means have come into or are living in the country.
Elsewhere among the state’s Republicans in the House:
• SAVE Act, House Resolution 22, Edwards and Rep. Dr. Greg Murphy are cosponsors. The acronym is Safeguard American Voter Eligibility. The bill of Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, requires proof of U.S. citizenship before registering to vote, and requires states to remove noncitizens from existing voter rolls.
• Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act, House Resolution 30, cosponsors Knott, McDowell and Mark Harris. The bill of Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., already approved 274-145 by the House, expands the crimes for which someone illegally in the country can be deported. Davis and all 10 of the state’s Republicans voted yea.
• House Resolution 31, cosponsored by Murphy. This makes the assault of a lawman a deportable offense.
• No Bailouts for Sanctuary Cities Act, House Resolution 32, cosponsored by Murphy. The proposal of Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., would ensure “federal dollars won’t subsidize the costs of prioritizing illegal immigration over the safety and well-being of law-abiding, tax-paying citizens,” he said.
• Protecting Our Communities from Sexual Predators Act, House Resolution 134, cosponsored by Edwards. The bill of Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., “ensures illegal immigrants convicted of sexual assault are detained, deported and permanently banned from the United States,” his release says. It amends the Immigration and Nationality Act.
• Equal Representation Act, House Resolution 151, sponsored by Edwards, cosponsored by Rouzer, Knott and Harris. Because people in the country illegally are included in apportionment, the proposal seeks a U.S. Census question on citizenship and the elimination of noncitizens from the count that determines the number of congressional seats each state is allotted.
• Consequences for Social Security Fraud Act, House Resolution 174, cosponsored by Edwards. This proposal of Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., is another amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act. Convictions related to Social Security or identification document fraud would allow people illegally in the country to be deported.
• No Immigration Benefits for Hamas Terrorists Act, House Resolution 176, cosponsored by Edwards. This is another bill from McClintock to ensure immigration-related relief or protections do not go to people in the country illegally if they “carried out, participated in, planned, financed, supported, or otherwise facilitated the attacks against Israel” on Oct. 7, 2023, according to Congress.gov.
• REMAIN in Mexico Act, House Resolution 273, cosponsored by Foxx, Harris, McDowell and Reps. Pat Harrigan and Richard Hudson. The bill, from freshman Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, codifies the Trump policy of the same name; capitalization is not for acronym, but rather, is representative of Migrant Protection Protocols as was known in 2019 documentation by Homeland Security.
• CONTAINER Act, House Resolution 534, sponsored by Rouzer. The acronym is Creating Obstructions Necessary To Address Illegal and Nefarious Entry Rapidly. His release says the legislation “would give border states the explicit authority to place temporary barriers on federal land to protect their communities and the entire United States against illegal immigration and the deadly flow of drugs.”
• Birthright Citizenship Act, House Resolution 569, cosponsored by Rouzer and Hudson. The legislation of Rep. Dr. Brian Badin, R-Texas, seeks to restore “original purpose” of the 14th Amendment.
