Latino Elected Officials Condemn ICE Bills, Urge Stein to Veto

The Republican-held North Carolina state legislature has passed two bills that could have a major impact on the Triangle community. 

Senate Bill 153 would require state law enforcement to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), prevent UNC system schools from obstructing ICE activity, and make “sanctuary cities” liable for crimes committed by illegal immigrants.

House Bill 318 would expand existing requirements that sheriffs cooperate with ICE, mandating that they hold detainees who are in the US illegally for at least 48-hours after they would normally be released from jail, allowing ICE agents more time to respond and capture detainees to start the deportation process.

Fifteen Latino elected officials from across the state published an open letter urging Governor John Stein to veto the bills, saying they would “criminalize immigrant families, divert state resources toward harmful immigration enforcement, and deepen division in communities that already face significant barriers and discrimination.”

A majority of the signees represent cities and towns that are considered Democratic strongholds in North Carolina. Democratic cities have been primary targets for ICE raids.

“As Latinos in North Carolina become a larger part of our communities and our electorate, our voices must be heard and respected,” Carrboro Town Council member Eliazar Posada-Orozco said in the letter. “Less than a decade ago, we had only five Latino elected officials in the state. Today, Latinos make up nearly 12 percent of the population and have nearly 30 elected representatives. We are building political power with every year and every election. Governor Stein needs to stand with us—if he wants us to stand with him.”

Stein has until Friday to take action on the bills. We talked to Durham city council member Javiera Caballero, who sits on the governor’s Hispanic/Latino Affairs Advisory Council and signed on to the open letter, about the impact these bills would have on community safety, local schools, and the economy.

INDY: We’ve seen this playbook before where a state passes legislation and other politically-aligned state legislatures copy and paste the same bills as a sign of fealty to party leadership. So what specific problem is the NC legislature trying to solve with these two bills?

Caballero: They just make shit up. Part of the reason why they’re doing these random raids is because they’ve floated these crazy numbers. Immigrants have a lower crime rate than the standard population, documented or undocumented. In the US, for the most part, folks come to work. Yes, there’s some politics built into it, but a lot of it is economic insecurity. People who show up here just really aren’t interested in not following the rules. So you’re scapegoating a group that doesn’t make sense to scapegoat. The reason we’re seeing such heinous stuff is because there’s no more “bad guys” to get. Trump and Stephen Miller oversold the bill of goods. 

Earlier in the year, it seemed like the primary targets of these anti-immigration actions were folks openly supportive of the Gazan cause. But given what’s happening in California right now, the target has shifted to Latino and South American migrants. In North Carolina, Latinos make up nearly 12 percent of the population. Do you feel like these bills are specifically targeting the Latino community here in the state?

I would say that it’s targeting, obviously, all immigrant groups, but the percentage of those groups differ. How it’s felt is different, and how people get targeted is really different. You don’t see raids happening at SAS. You see them at … the chicken plants, hotels. Who are the populations that are doing those jobs? It is more likely going to be Latino. Now, you also have Haitians in there as well. They tend to be a group that has been targeted. I will say this, having lived in Chicago for a number of years, there’s a lot of Eastern European immigrants in Chicago. You’re not seeing those groups getting targeted in the same way. Now, they may end up being collateral damage.

If these bills are passed, how will it impact the Triangle?

I’m on the Economic Opportunity subcommittee for the Hispanic and [the Governor’s] Latino Affairs Advisory Council. Vicky [Garcia] said that the Latino Community Credit Union [where she is president] saw a 20 percent drop in in-person transactions at the credit union since the Trump Administration took over at the start of the year. People are banking but they’re not coming in. The credit union is strategic, so in some of their locations, they’re next to the Compare Foods, and other places where all the Latino-owned businesses are. People go to bank and then they do their shopping. So if you’re seeing a 20 percent drop in in-person transactions, what is that doing to the Latino businesses surrounding the credit union?

What’s going to happen with schools? What’s going to happen with healthcare settings? If folks don’t feel safe, they’re not going to go and they’re not going to send their kids to school, and that does actually impact everyone. Thirty-three percent of Durham Public Schools are Latino students. Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Wake have the highest numbers of Latino students. Durham Public Schools is the only district that is in the top 10 in both numbers and percentage. Money is tied to how many butts are in seats. That’s beyond the individual. Obviously, you want to care about that individual student and their family, but everybody’s success is tied to one another.

For folks who are like, “this isn’t my problem.” I don’t think that’s the attitude in Durham, but it’s certainly the attitude in other spaces. “This isn’t my fight.” It becomes your fight, because whatever they’re willing to do to immigrant groups now, they’re going to do it to the general population at some point. That’s the march to authoritarianism. At some point, you’re no longer the “in” group.

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