(The Center Square) – Migrant numbers are rising near Winston-Salem and steady or having no impact closer to the Triangle, officials in North Carolina say.
The Center Square, in the wake of the Title 42 public health law changing in the spring and recent reports of large cities trying to point migrants elsewhere, reached out to determine impact on the state’s six counties considered sanctuaries for people living in or entering the country illegally.
Title 42, implemented in 2020 by the Trump administration and ended in May by the Biden administration, allowed border patrol agents the authority to expel migrants to their home country or the country they were last in to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Since January 2021, more than 8 million people have been reported illegally entering the U.S. nationwide – more than the individual populations of 38 states.
Title 42’s expiration prompted speculation migrants admitted to the United States seeking asylum would increase. Added to that, a number of larger metropolitan cities nationwide are having second thoughts on being so open to people living in or entering the country illegally.
As The Center Square has reported, problems include access at both the southern and northern borders of the continental U.S.; strategy by cartels; suspected terrorists; in some places, rising enrollments in public schools; and child trafficking.
A report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform puts the taxpayer pricetag estimate above $150 billion.
In North Carolina, six of 100 counties are identified by the Center for Immigration Studies as sanctuary jurisdictions. This means the center recognizes laws, ordinances, regulations, resolutions, policies or other practices that obstruct immigration enforcement and shield criminals from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
Those counties are Buncombe, Durham, Forsyth, Mecklenburg, Orange, and Wake. Inquiries with the manager’s office and individual commissioners in Buncombe, where Asheville is the county seat, went unanswered. There was also no response over several days from Mecklenburg County, where Charlotte is the state’s largest city.
In Forsyth County, Winston-Salem Director of Human Relations Wanda Allen-Abraha said anecdotal reports from the community suggest more migrants are coming in, and the city is working to respond.
“Yes, we have seen an influx,” she said. “From what we’re hearing from our partner agencies … there seems to be an increase in migrants, specifically from Central America,” from countries including Columbia, Venezuela, El Salvador and others coming through Florida.
The feedback comes from a consortium of community groups that work with migrants and meet with city officials quarterly, as well as contact with Hispanic church leaders that has confirmed the trend, she said.
“They’ve noticed it in their congregations,” Allen-Abraha said.
The city has launched a new language access division to better communicate with those coming in, while also developing a community ambassador program to help connect migrants with needed services. At least one general fund position was added to the budget to help with the work. City officials have also developed a pay differential for multilingual employees that will soon be presented for consideration, she said.
Officials in Wake and Durham counties told The Center Square they do not have sanctuary policies, which they say are illegal in North Carolina. Regardless, there’s also been no influx of migrants coming into those communities, officials said.
Kokou Nayo, immigration and refugee affairs coordinator for Durham County, said there’s currently no reliable way to track migrants who make their way there, and anecdotal evidence suggests nothing has changed in recent months.
“There has not really been any influx,” he said.
Ben Canada, chief of staff for Wake County government, suggested the same in an email response to The Center Square’s inquiries about the migrant situation there.
“Wake County, like all North Carolina counties, plays no role in immigration policy. Our Board of Commissioners has never approved, or considered, a resolution declaring the county a sanctuary location,” Canada wrote. “Staff have observed no immediate impact from the recent changes to Title 42.”
Todd McGee, community relations manager in Orange County, contends migrants are “not an issue in Orange County.”
“We don’t have those kinds of issues,” he said. “We haven’t had any kind of increased surge, or anything like that.”
While county officials continue to monitor the situation, hundreds of migrant children could soon be heading to Greensboro. Recent published reports say workers are descending on the site of a former American Hebrew Academy to prepare for the opening of a new federal influx care facility.
A Friday release from the Office of Refugee Resettlement says the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has secured a facility in Greensboro. It will provide shelter for boys and girls ages 13-17, with a capacity of up to 800 beds. An opening date is not included in the statement; speculation is August.
The release says, “Children age 17 and under who are unaccompanied by parents or other legal guardians and who have no lawful immigration status in the United States (unaccompanied children) and who are apprehended by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are transferred to the care and custody of the HHS Office of Refugee Settlement (ORR). HHS plans no role in the apprehension or detention of unaccompanied children prior to their referral to HHS custody. HHS does not provide care or custody for adult non-citizens or family units that include adults.
“ORR is legally required to provide for the care and custody of all unaccompanied children referred to ORR until they are placed with a vetter sponsor, usually a parent or relative, while their immigration cases proceed.”
The Office of Refugee Settlement has 296 facilities in 27 states, the release says.
