North Carolina lawmakers approve more voucher funds and order sheriffs to aid immigration agents

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Republican-dominated North Carolina legislature passed a supplemental spending bill Wednesday that eliminates a large waitlist for private school vouchers and also directs sheriffs to assist federal immigration agents seeking jail inmates. While Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper almost assuredly will veto the measure, it's still poised to become law later this year if GOP lawmakers remain united.

The House voted 67-43 following debate to accept the legislation worked out by Republican legislative leaders. The Senate approved the measure separately Monday during a scheduled General Assembly session this week. The House also wrapped up Wednesday a successful veto override of a separate Senate bill involving the state's building code. The bill is now law.

The spending proposal contains provisions considered by Senate and House Republicans but didn't reach Cooper's desk when the year's chief work session ended in late June because GOP leaders couldn't reach agreements on budget adjustments or other bills.

The compromise measure transfers $463.5 million more this school year and next to the Opportunity Scholarship program. The program saw a massive surge in applications for the fall because legislators in 2023 did away with income limits on families to qualify.

The measure also locates more money for Medicaid this fiscal year and to address enrollment growth in public schools and community colleges.

Without enough scholarship money planned, about 55,000 children were otherwise waitlisted, meaning the program this fall could only provide awards to repeat scholarship recipients and some new applicants with family income below certain levels. The bill would fund approved scholarships for even the highest income earners that are less than what low-income families receive per child.

Fully funding the universal voucher program was a leading priority for Republican legislators earlier this year. Dozens of parents on the waitlist rallied in July to place pressure upon legislators after they left Raleigh without a deal. The final bill says families can be retroactively reimbursed for their fall private schooling costs.

“As North Carolina continues to expand education options for families, we are ensuring that every child has the chance to thrive,” Mecklenburg County Republican Rep. Tricia Cotham, a leading voucher expansion advocate, said in a news release after the vote.

Cooper, other Democrats and allied groups opposed to the scholarships argue the expanded program will devastate public schools on which most low-income families rely, while the richest families will get payments to help their children attend private and religious schools.

“It doesn’t make sense to take resources away from students who need them the most,” Giancarlo Nolasco, a junior at a Chatham County high school, said at a Legislative Building rally before the House vote. “Instead of helping a few, we should be investing in solutions that help everyone.”

The bill also retains language that tells county sheriffs to comply with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers that identify jail inmates believed to be in the country unlawfully and who have been charged with the most serious crimes. Those inmates would be held up to 48 hours under a judicial official’s order so ICE agents could pick them up.

Three Democrats joined all House Republicans in voting Wednesday for the bill, which now heads to Cooper. Cooper’s opposition to vouchers and his veto of two previous versions of the ICE bill in 2019 and 2022 would signal he would veto this omnibus measure containing both items. But unlike those previous years, Republicans now have narrow veto-proof majorities in both chambers.

In a statement posted to social media after the vote, Cooper didn't mention a veto but still urged people to tell legislators to vote against “this harmful expansion of school vouchers." Any override vote would come in the fall.

Republican advocates of the immigration provisions say they're necessary because a handful of sheriffs in predominantly Democratic counties are disregarding ICE detainers, threatening public safety. They have in the past cited situations where immigration agents should have been contacted about inmates in North Carolina and elsewhere who were later released and went on to commit more crimes.

“When sheriffs say, ‘Well I’m just not going to cooperate with ICE,’ that doesn’t solve any problem at all," said Rep. Destin Hall, a Caldwell County Republican who has shepherded the immigration measure for years. Forcing federal agents instead to track down detainer subjects outside jails, Hall added, "puts the folks who (are) there in that community at risk."

Opponents of the legislation argued it would unconstitutionally target North Carolina’s Hispanic population, harming families and and reducing trust in local law enforcement.

The bill "will be used to attack the undocumented community, deepening fear and division in our communities,” Mario Alfaro with El Pueblo, which advocates for Latinos in North Carolina, told lawmakers before a committee vote.