Soft-on-crime North Carolina Democrat Senate candidate Roy Cooper backed sanctuary policies protecting illegal aliens as governor, costing taxpayers $3.14 billion in taxpayer dollars and vetoing legislation requiring law enforcement cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Nearly 500,000 illegal aliens resided in the state under Cooper’s tenure, according to estimates.
In 2018 and 2019, 489 illegal aliens with active ICE detainers for were released from state prisons. The detainers included illegal aliens charged with sex offenses, kidnapping, and homicides.
The illegals released included one in Durham County who was arrested for robbery with a dangerous weapon and released despite ICE putting a detainer on him. Six months later, he allegedly strangled his girlfriend to death because he thought she was cheating on him. After fleeing from the state, he was captured in Louisiana and charged with murder.
In another case, a previously deported illegal immigrant was released in Mecklenburg County after being arrested on charges including first-degree rape and indecent liberties with a minor because county officials did not want to cooperate with ICE.
In far-left Asheville, Buncombe County refused to cooperate with ICE and released an illegal immigrant after he was charged with statutory sex offenses against an 11-year-old girl.
State legislators attempted to pass legislation to curb the issue, but Cooper on three separate occasions vetoed measures requiring local law enforcement to work with federal authorities.
He said in a 2019 veto message, “This legislation is simply about scoring partisan political points and using fear to divide North Carolina,” claiming the bill “weakens law enforcement in North Carolina by mandating sheriffs to do the job of federal agents.”
Notably, his 2019 veto came as a result of a lobbying effort by the Soros-funded Siembra NC. The far-left open borders nonprofit actively hosts “ICE Watch” workshops and operated a “community defense” hotline encouraging residents to report ICE activity.
Cooper vetoed similar legislation in 2022 and 2024, with the final version becoming law thanks to a bipartisan override vote.
Despite using local sheriffs and law enforcement as the reason he vetoed the bills, his campaign for Senate has been shunned by them. Breitbart News reported in August zero law enforcement organizations have endorsed Cooper and they have lined up behind Republican Michael Whatley. One of those organizations, the NC Troopers Association, represents the North Carolina Highway Patrol, which directly reported to, and worked closely, with Cooper for eight years.
Recent polls have pointed to a tightening race in the Tar Heel State, with a recent Quantus Insights survey putting the margin at just 5 points, with 48 percent for Cooper and 43 percent for Whatley.
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