If there is any one issue about immigration that nearly everyone agrees on, it is that criminal illegal aliens have no right to be in the United States. (Even the 1986 Reagan amnesty did not include felon illegal aliens.)
Thus, 88 percent of N.C. voters support county participation in the 287(g) program.
Given widespread public support for 287(g) the House budget allocated $1 million in nonrecurring funding to the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association to expand the program here in North Carolina. Currently, only 7 counties are enrolled in or in the process of enrolling in 287(g).
The Senate budget countered by cutting 287(g) funding to $500,000.
In the end, the House/Senate conference committee let the Senate cuts stand — reducing 287(g) funding from $750,000 in last year’s budget to $600,000 in this year’s budget.
The message: arresting and helping to deport criminal illegal aliens is not a priority for the state of North Carolina — or, at least, those legislators who voted for the budget.
Oh, and by the way, the budget does nothing else to fund immigration reform and enforcement. Yet it does expand funding for several programs that provide educational and healthcare benefits to illegal aliens — i.e., More at Four ($30 million), Learn & Earn ($3.5 million), community health centers ($4 million), etc., etc.
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