On Wednesday, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper vetoed a bill that would have required the state’s sheriffs to comply with detainer requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Republicans protested that with the veto, arguing that Cooper is abetting illegal immigrants and putting the safety of the public at risk. The bill had passed the House a day earlier and the Senate in June.

Several progressive sheriffs across the state had won elections this year campaigning on the promise of refusing to cooperate with ICE, according to The Epoch Times, essentially forming sanctuary counties.

The new law would have forced officers to determine whether prisoners were legally in the country and to cooperate with ICE. It would have also prevented city and county officials from blocking law enforcement from such cooperation.

Cooper’s rationale for the veto came in a tweet he sent out in which he claimed: “This legislation is simply about scoring partisan political points and using fear to divide North Carolina. This bill, in addition to being unconstitutional, weakens law enforcement in North Carolina by mandating sheriffs to do the job of federal agents.”

The bill had passed both houses of the state legislature along party lines. Overriding the governor’s veto would require some Democrats to cross party lines.

“I was a prosecutor on the border for 25 years and as a prosecutor on the border,” said former New Mexico governor Susana Martinez, commenting on the dangers posed by institutionalized lawlessness like this, “I saw cooperation and partnership between local, state, and federal law enforcement agents every single day … They work together to ensure those individuals [who came into the country illegally] were in jail and there was a retainer placed on them so they weren’t allowed to be released from jail and roaming the country without detection and ICE having to chase them down to be held accountable for the crimes in our state of New Mexico or against the American citizens.”

Fox News anchor David Asman interviewed Martinez on Saturday.

“One of the purposes of the bill that the [North Carolina] governor vetoed was to stop that from happening because they saw recidivism, they saw people who had been released by ICE because of noncooperation going out and committing more crimes,” he said. “Let me ask about New Mexico, the state of which you were governor, because they had a sanctuary state law that they were trying to put through back in January. It ultimately failed to pass, or it was pulled. What happened in New Mexico with the sanctuary state law?”

“New Mexico used to be a sanctuary state under my predecessor,” the former governor replied. “He declared New Mexico a sanctuary state. Shortly after I became governor a little over eight years ago, I pulled it by executive order, we were no longer a sanctuary state because it’s unsafe. It put the citizens of New Mexico into jeopardy because we released individuals who commit crime and let them wander in New Mexico or other states.”

Martinez continued, “I don’t think it passed because hopefully they’re listening, the legislators are listening to the people of the state who say we have a right to the safety of the public in our businesses, in our schools, that when we shop that we should not be victims of crime by persons who are here in this country illegally.”

Asman pointed out the recent history of Democrats repeatedly changing direction on their immigration stances and their ever-changing politics with regard to border protection. “It doesn’t seem like they can get a straight line here on immigration, does it?” he asked.

“No, they can’t make a straight line because they keep making it up as they go along, and this is what’s happening,” Martinez said.

“Everyone has to understand that Congress holds the purse strings,” she continued. “They are the ones that are going to make sure that they provide the funds, that people who are being held in these facilities have proper care, proper tools, toothbrushes, beds, room, space, food, etc. They’re the ones that actually provide the funds. But they’re holding back on making sure the facilities are sufficient and large enough for their [detainees’] comfort while they’re being held for their asylum claims. They hold it back and then turn around and blame the president. You can’t do the double speak here. They’re the ones that fund it and then it’s the president that turns around and will sign that legislation that comes from Congress. It’s the Democrats that can’t keep it straight because they want to have it both ways.”

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Victor Rantala

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Victor Rantala is an Army vet who lives in Minnesota, he is a former intelligence analyst and business owner, and is an NRA Life member who is officially retired but has yet to slow his roll.

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