CHARLOTTE — Mecklenburg County Sheriff Gary McFadden is blasting immigration legislation lawmakers, stating on Thursday they introduced it because of him.
House Bill 318 was introduced on Wednesday by North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall. It would require sheriffs to notify federal immigration authorities before they release someone at the request of the officials. The bill will try to address the issue with House Bill 10, which only “requests” that ICE is called and not required. The new bill would allow the detainer to take effect when the person is about to be released, not when they are booked in jail.
McFadden said in his statement that he expected this bill was coming and shared thoughts on the proposed legislation.
“After reviewing the initial draft of HB-10 a few months ago, I anticipated that Speaker Hall and others in Raleigh would introduce additional amendments and new bills to address the gaps I identified,” he said. “Instead of continually revising immigration legislation year after year, why not develop a more comprehensive immigration reform bill? As we’ve seen numerous times, deportation alone is failing. Rushed and poorly conceived broad proposals, drafted without input from local sheriffs who are actively engaged in immigration, crime, and social justice matters, fail to produce effective solutions or foster real community engagement, the statement read further.
McFadden said that if the bill becomes law, he will indeed follow it.
“Again, without meaningful collaboration, communication, and cooperation, I’ll be left waiting until the bill becomes law—only to point out the same kinds of gaps I identified in HB-10. HB 318 is not law yet and when it becomes law, I will follow that law and continue to cooperate with ICE,” McFadden said. “We all say that we are fighting for safe communities. I have been fighting for this cause for four decades, but we must respect each other’s opinions and put party affiliation and politics to the side.”
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