June 17, 2019

The Honorable Roy Cooper  
Governor of the State of North Carolina
20301 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-0301

Re: HB 370 Veto Request

Dear Governor Cooper:

We, the undersigned organizations, respectfully urge you to veto HB 370 and any similar legislation that require local law enforcement to participate in federal immigration enforcement.

HB 370 would compel sheriff offices to ask people about their immigration status regardless of criminal charge and report and detain individuals for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). For the following reasons, we strongly stand with North Carolina communities in opposing this bill which forcibly turns local law enforcement into deportation agents.

If passed, HB 370 would harm community safety. When local law enforcement start acting like Trump’s deportation force, immigrant communities are more fearful of reaching out to law enforcement to report crime or seek help. This makes all our communities less safe. Additionally, HB 370 wastes taxpayer money by diverting a locality’s limited resources to civil immigration enforcement rather than investing in community programs, such as education, social, and health services, that truly address the root causes of crime and community safety.

Furthermore, HB 370 worsens the moral crisis of family separation and mass deportation. Collaborating with ICE means assisting a rogue deportation agency which detains immigrants including infant children in substandard conditions, terrorizes communities with large-scale raids, and breaks up families. North Carolina already experiences one of highest increases in ICE arrests in the country.  [1] In the past two years, two North Carolina residents have died in ICE custody after being turned over by local law enforcement. [2] With local sheriff deputies forced to work as force multipliers for ICE, HB 370 would dramatically increase detentions and deportations, causing long-term damage to North Carolina families and communities.

HB 370 also raises serious concerns over civil and human rights and racial profiling. [4] Earlier this year, we applauded the decision of a number of North Carolina Sheriffs, backed by strong constituent support, limiting collaboration with ICE particularly in light of these constitutional and community considerations. We are concerned that HB 370 is part of an ongoing retaliatory effort by the State Legislature to roll back local policies protecting the dignity and human rights of all community members including immigrants. [5]

Therefore, we urge you to stand against hate and with immigrant families and community to veto HB 370 and any similar anti-immigrant bill should they pass the State Legislature.

Sincerely,

Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus
Alianza Americas
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
America's Voice
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action
Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)
Church World Services (CWS)
Color Of Change
Columbia Law School Immigrants' Rights Clinic
CREDO Action
Detention Watch Network
Faith in Action
Freedom for Immigrants
Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities
Hispanic Federation
Hispanics in Philanthropy
Immigrant Defense Project (IDP)
Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC)
International Association of Bridge, Structural Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers (NC)
Jobs With Justice Education Fund
Justice Strategies
Latino Commission on AIDS
LatinoJustice PRLDEF
Mi Familia Vota
Mijente
MomsRising
National Conference of Puerto Rican Women, Inc.
National Association of Hispanic Federal Executives
National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON)
National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA)
National Employment Law Project
National Hispanic Medical Association
Hispanic National Bar Association
National Immigration Law Center
National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild (NIPNLG)
National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC)
National Latinx Psychological Association
North Carolina State American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (NC AFL-CIO)
People's Action
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)
UnidosUS
United We Dream (UWD)
United States Hispanic Leadership Institute
Veterans for American Ideals
Voto Latino

[1] Muzaffar Chishti and Jessica Bolter, “The Trump Administration at Six Months: A Sea Change in Immigration Enforcement,” Migration Policy Institute, July 19, 2017 (documenting a 460% increase in ICE apprehensions across Georgia and the Carolinas); Jen Tota McGivney, “After ICE Raids, Charlotte’s Immigrant Community Hides in Fear,” Charlotte Weekly, April 15, 2019.
[2]  Macon Adkinson, “A Raleigh Man Died of an Apparent Suicide While in Solitary Confinement at a For-Profit Immigration Prison in Georgia” Indyweek, Jul. 13, 2018; Jeremy Redmon, “ICE detainee who hanged himself had history of mental health problems,” AJC, July 11, 2017.
[4] Chantal Da Silva, “Black American Arrested by ICE, Told He’d Be Sent to ‘Jamaican Prison,’ but Everything Was ‘Gonna Be Alright’,” Newsweek, Dec. 4, 2018; David Bier, “U.S. Citizens Targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Texas,” Cato Institute, Aug. 29, 2018; ILRC, “Legal Issues with Immigration Detainers” Nov. 2016; Gardner, Trevor George and Kohli, Aarti, The C.A.P. Effect: Racial Profiling in the ICE Criminal Alien Program, The Chief Justice Earl Warren Inst. on Race, Ethnicity & Diversity, September 2009. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3168885
[5] Sarah Willets, "Is the NCGA’s 'Sanctuary Sheriffs' Bill About Public Safety, or Just Politics?" Indy Week, April 10, 2019; Jimmy Tobias, “Trans Rights Weren’t the Only Target of North Carolina’s ‘Bathroom Bill,’” The Nation, Mar. 31, 2017.

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