This is from our friends at "La Voz del Pueblo"

NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY PUSHES LOCAL SHERIFFS TO ENFORCE IMMIGRATION LAW IN LOCAL COMMUNITIES

The NC General Assembly has been in session all weekend and they are trying to wrap up this week. This is a really hectic time at the NCGA when all types of bills and budget items appear out of nowhere and are pushed through very quickly. Two things appeared that are immigrant-related in 1) the budget and 2) the House calendar.

The Budget
This weekend, the NC Senate and House approved $750,000 in the state budget for the NC Sheriff's Association to be distributed as mini-grants in select, undetermined counties. These mini-grants will be used to provide technical assistance and support to county sheriff's departments that want to apply for the 287(g) program. The 287(g) program allows Sheriff's Departments to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to do the work of immigration enforcement in local communities. They have stated their intention to seek more funds in the year to come to continue expanding 287(g). Late Monday night, the budget was approved was signed by the Governor on Tuesday. There was no room for amendments to the budget bill, there was no debate on the 287g money, and it was a done deal by the time I got to the legislature.

Read more about the 287(g) program and Memorandums of Understanding here.

The Bill
Also on Saturday, Senate Bill 229 was put on the House Calendar. Originally, this bill was "an act to add an aggravating factor in capital murder cases that the defendant knowingly violated a domestic violence protective order." It passed the Senate and was sent to the House Judiciary I Committee. On Friday, July 27th, the entire contents of the bill were replaced by a House Committee Substitute with permission from the primary sponsor of the original bill-a Senate Democrat. The bill is now "an act to determine the nationality and immigration status of persons jailed on felony or driving while impaired charges."
El Pueblo has been lobbying on this issue ever since we first found out about it on Saturday. We have been trying to find ways to kill the bill while at the same time suggesting the following ways to minimize the harm done within the proposal. In the end, each of our recommendations was removed and it passed out of committee.

This bill went to the House floor for a vote on Wednesday afternoon and passed 109-1. The only no vote came from Representative Paul Luebke (D-Durham). It was sent to the Senate for their concurrence, passed and now sent to the Governor in order to sign it into law.

Read Senate Bill 229 here.


CHANGES IN LICENSE PLATES AND MOTOR VEHICLE REGRISTRATION

In another example of anti-immigrant sentiment, the North Carolina General Assembly passed a law requiring a North Carolina Driver's License in order to register a new vehicle and obtain license plates. Driver licenses from other countries will no longer be accepted when registering a vehicle with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). The bill was raised out of concern for other issues such as out-of-state licenses used for lower insurance costs, etc, but it quickly became a front to further complicate the presence of immigrants in North Carolina. Keep looking for more details and updates about this issue, as well as a responses to it in following La Voz updates.