Roy Cooper’s record on immigration enforcement as North Carolina’s governor is drawing renewed scrutiny as he runs for U.S. Senate against Republican Michael Whatley, with campaign material and news reports highlighting cases in which illegal immigrants facing serious charges were released from local custody without being turned over to federal authorities.
Nearly 500,000 illegal immigrants are estimated to have resided in North Carolina during Cooper’s tenure as governor, and the state’s handling of illegal immigration under his administration has been estimated to have cost taxpayers $3.14 billion.
In 2018 and 2019, 489 illegal immigrants with active ICE detainers were released from state prisons rather than transferred to federal custody, according to figures cited in reporting on Cooper’s record. Those detainers included individuals charged with sex offenses, kidnapping, and homicide.
Local cases
Among the cases highlighted is one in Durham County, where a man arrested for robbery with a dangerous weapon was released despite an ICE detainer. Six months later, he allegedly strangled his girlfriend to death, believing she had been unfaithful. He fled the state and was later captured and charged with murder in Louisiana.
In Mecklenburg County, a previously deported illegal immigrant was released after being arrested on charges including first-degree rape and indecent liberties with a minor, after county officials declined to cooperate with ICE.
In Buncombe County, home to Asheville, an illegal immigrant charged with statutory sex offenses against an 11-year-old girl was released after local authorities refused to cooperate with federal immigration agents.
The vetoes
State lawmakers made three separate attempts to require local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, and Cooper vetoed each measure — in 2019, 2022 and 2024. The 2024 version ultimately became law after a bipartisan override vote.
In his 2019 veto message, Cooper wrote that the legislation was “simply about scoring partisan political points and using fear to divide North Carolina,” and argued the bill “weakens law enforcement in North Carolina by mandating sheriffs to do the job of federal agents.”
That 2019 veto followed a lobbying push from Siembra NC, an immigrant-advocacy nonprofit funded in part by George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, which runs “ICE Watch” workshops and has operated a hotline for residents to report ICE activity in their communities.
Law enforcement’s response
Despite citing concerns about burdening sheriffs as a reason for his vetoes, Cooper has not received endorsements from law enforcement groups in his Senate bid. Breitbart News reported in August that no law enforcement organizations had endorsed Cooper, with those groups instead backing Whatley — including the NC Troopers Association, which represents the North Carolina Highway Patrol, an agency that reported directly to Cooper for eight years as governor.
Where the race stands
The contest between Cooper and Whatley has tightened in recent polling. A Quantus Insights survey put Cooper ahead by five points, 48 percent to 43 percent.
