Immigration bill reaches N.C.

The controversial Arizona immigration law has found its way into the halls of the N.C. General Assembly.

A proposed Senate resolution makes North Carolina the 18th state to consider a law that would require everyone to carry immigration documents and enable law enforcement to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally.

N.C. Sen. Don East, R-Alleghany, has introduced Senate Resolution 1349, asking for a law similar to that of Arizona Senate Bill 1070 to be considered during the legislative short session.

Although it would require a waiver for the bill to be considered this summer, opponents and advocates of the Arizona law are getting in gear to put up a fight.

“We’ve been sending messages to state legislators asking them to stand up and follow Arizona’s lead to help fight illegal immigration here,” said William Gheen, president and founder of Americans for Legal Immigration, a political action committee based in Raleigh.

Gheen said supporters of the resolution have been making numerous calls asking the chairman of the rules committee to allow the resolution to be considered.

“I feel very confident from the fervent and enthusiastic response that our activists are approaching state legislators in all 50 states in this matter,” Gheen said.

Regardless of North Carolina voter support for such a law, it’s not likely to be considered before the next session of the legislature, said Sarah Preston, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina.

“These kinds of policy changes are things the legislature prefers to deal with during the long session. They’d have to move pretty quickly to get it through,” Preston said.

“Immigration law is extremely complicated, and I think rushing this kind of legislation could really just end up confusing local law enforcement and creating bad law.”

While East’s bill still lacks any wording as to what the law would involve, Preston said the ACLU is concerned that the idea behind the Arizona law is unconstitutional.

“The federal government has the authority to enforce immigration law, and as far as I know there’s no permission given by that federal law to states to start to do that kind of thing unless they’re contracting with the federal government.

According to Arizona’s SB1070, “Where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully in the United States, a reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable, to determine the immigration status of that person.”

A similar policy active in six N.C. counties, Section 287(g), allows local law enforcement officials to coordinate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement if an undocumented person happens to be arrested for an entirely different offense.

Opponents of SB1070 fear racial profiling will result in arrests of undocumented people who haven’t committed any other crimes.

“Certainly it encourages racial profiling because it makes people carry papers on them that prove their citizenship. But only people law enforcement think look foreign are people who will be stopped,” Preston said.

Dani Martinez-Moore, coordinator for the Network of Immigrant Advocates at the N.C. Justice Center, said federal comprehensive immigration reform is what’s needed, not policy changes from Raleigh.

“We need fixes out of Washington rather than Raleigh,” Martinez-Moore said.

“I think that it could put a huge burden on local police and sheriffs, that our justice system would be overtaxed even more, and issues of public health and safety may go neglected.”

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.