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North Carolina Republican senatorial candidate Michael Whatley said in a Wednesday interview that the reason ICE has to deploy such force in Charlotte and the Triangle is because of his Democratic opponent’s repeated vetoes of bills that would have compelled local cooperation with DHS.
ICE, along with Tarheel State-native Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, captured at least 120 illegal immigrants in Charlotte, with plans to shift to the state capital of Raleigh on Wednesday. Officials in Durham — part of the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill “Triangle” region — also reported ICE activity.
Whatley, a Watauga native and former Republican National Committee chairman, blamed Democratic former Gov. Roy Cooper for what he called a breakdown in local law enforcement.
“If Roy Cooper had not vetoed legislation that would have forced sheriffs to honor the ICE detainers, then these people would not have been on the street,” Whatley said.
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Republican Michael Whatley, left; Democrat Roy Cooper, right. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images; Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“It’s unfortunate that the Trump administration has to go into a city like Charlotte and help to clean up the city. It would be great if the state and the local officials were to be as concerned for their citizens as they were for the illegal immigration advocates that they’re pushing.”
Cooper vetoed at least three bills during his eight-year tenure dealing with ICE cooperation that were drafted by the GOP-majority legislature.
In August 2019, Cooper vetoed a bill from current House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Lenoir, that would have required sheriffs to honor ICE detainers and hold suspects until they could be transferred to the feds.
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Cooper reportedly said the bill was trying to use “fear to divide North Carolina.”
Another bill drafted by Hall with state Reps. Carson Smith of Burgaw, Jason Saine of Lincolnton and Keith Kidwell of Washington – dubbed “ICE 2.0” also died with the veto pen in 2022.
The third time was the charm for the four GOP lawmakers, as the legislature overrode Cooper’s veto of their next attempt in 2024, which also included expansion of private-sector school vouchers.
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Whatley said the result of the vetoes showed that Cooper is “responsible” for many of the illegal immigrant criminals who remained on the streets until ICE swooped in over the weekend.
A Cooper spokesperson told Fox News Digital that sheriffs in Wake, Mecklenburg and Durham counties all opposed Republicans’ legislation – and backed his own move to veto them.
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“Roy Cooper is the only candidate who spent his career prosecuting violent criminals and keeping thousands of them behind bars, and numerous North Carolina sheriffs spoke out against this legislation at the time because of a lack of resources; a problem that Washington, D.C. insider and Big Oil lobbyist Michael Whatley has made worse because of his support for cuts to local law enforcement,” the spokesman said.
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The sheriffs had warned in a letter the policies would add “substantial administrative burdens” to jailers and court staff. Elsewhere, Cooper had supported the Lankford-Sinema border bill, which President Donald Trump considered flawed and helped tank in 2024.
Whatley criticized sheriffs in Durham, Wake and Mecklenburg counties for refusing to comply with ICE detainer requests.
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“What we’ve seen are Democrat sheriffs … who have refused to honor the ICE detainers and be able to move these violent criminal illegal aliens out of North Carolina,” he said.
“Thank God President Trump is standing up and defending the citizens of North Carolina by removing these violent criminals from the state.”
He said the highest role of government is protection of the citizenry and that the president has essentially become the proxy in that role for the people of North Carolina.
Fox News Digital’s Kiera McDonald contributed to this report.
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