Immigration Politics and Policy in North Carolina
Over the past decade, the Latino population has grown faster in the Southeast than in any other region of the country. The two states with the fastest growth rates, Alabama and South Carolina, have also been two of the most aggressive in pursuing legislation aimed at restricting the lives of undocumented immigrants. North Carolina has experienced demographic change in a very similar manner. Latino population growth here outpaced all but five other states between 2000 and 2010. Buncombe, Henderson, and Haywood Counties each saw their Latino populations grow by more than 100%. In 1990, less than 1% of Buncombe and Henderson County residents identified as Hispanic or Latino. By 2011, that share had grown to 10% in Henderson County and over 6% in Buncombe County.
This period of rapid growth in Western North Carolina’s Spanish-speaking population has coincided with a variety of other significant changes. Over the past few decades, rural North Carolina has experience major job losses in the textile and furniture industries, due largely to factory closures and outsourcing. Throughout U.S. history, the anxiety and anger awakened during periods of economic upheaval have often found expression in hostility toward newcomers. Increased immigration to the South has not caused factories to close or jobs to be outsourced. However, as job losses and increasing migration have occurred at the same time, immigrants have often become a convenient scapegoat.
State politicians have proven perfectly willing to trade on the fear of immigrants, both on the campaign trail and in drafting legislation. While the North Carolina General Assembly has not taken up an immigration crackdown on the scale of states like Arizona and Alabama, several piecemeal bills have been passed into law over the past six years that have made certain aspects of undocumented immigrants’ lives more difficult. In 2006, the state passed a law requiring a valid Social Security number to obtain a North Carolina driver’s license. Two separate bills passed in 2006 and 2011 expanded mandatory participation in the E-Verify system for all public agencies and large private employers. In March 2011, North Carolina also became the tenth state to implement the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Secure Communities program in every county statewide. Through Secure Communities, every fingerprint taken by local law enforcement is matched against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) database. Since undocumented North Carolinians no longer have access to driver’s licenses, this means that if local police choose to make an arrest for driving without a license, a simple traffic stop can ultimately lead to deportation, even for a long-time resident with no criminal record.
Capitalizing on the momentum of Arizona-style anti-immigrant laws passed in Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina, last fall the North Carolina House of Representatives announced the formation of a Select Committee to study potential new state immigration laws. Six months ago, as high school senior Juan Ramos stood to testify at a public hearing before that committee, he faced a dilemma that confronts approximately 65,000 new high school graduates across the United States each year. All undocumented students are barred from receiving federal financial aid, and in North Carolina such students are also charged out-of-state tuition, no matter how long they have resided in the state. When Ramos takes his turn at the microphone in the video below, his voice is alternately discouraged and resolute, plaintive and defiant, a paradox that befits the limbo-like status of undocumented young people as immigration policy hovers in uncertain territory. “I’m not afraid of saying that I’m undocumented,” he declares, pausing to collect himself before continuing, “I only ask for opportunities.”
At the conclusion of the public hearing portrayed in the video, co-chairmen Frank Iler of Oak Island and Harry Warren of Salisbury told reporters that the Select Committee would wait for the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Arizona’s immigration enforcement bill, in order to see which strategies pioneered in other states are viable options for North Carolina, before recommending any new action on immigration policy. Since that day, more than six months have passed, and in June the Supreme Court overturned much of Arizona’s law while letting one of its most contentious provisions stand.
The Select Committee will not meet to discuss its recommendations to the General Assembly until after the election this fall, and neither co-chair was willing to speculate this week about what those recommendations will be. In the past, however, the committee’s leaders have made their personal desires clear. Shortly before the Select Committee convened for the first time, Rep. Iler told his hometown newspaper, the Wilmington Star-News, “we need to make North Carolina as unwelcoming as possible for any illegal alien wherever they come from." Last year, Iler and Warren both served as co-sponsors for House Bill 11, “No Postsecondary Education/Illegal Aliens,” which would have barred Juan Ramos and students like him from attending any community college or public university in North Carolina, even at the higher tuition rates they are currently forced to pay.
The future remains very uncertain for immigration policy in North Carolina, but the events of the past year provide important lessons for lawmakers and concerned citizens alike. Over the next few days, this blog will examine the recent U.S. Supreme Court Arizona v. United States decision as well as the experiences of two states closer to home, Georgia and Alabama, who have recently experimented with harsh immigration enforcement laws modeled after Arizona's. Stay tuned!
Additional Resources
Over the past decade, the Latino population has grown faster in the Southeast than in any other region of the country. The two states with the fastest growth rates, Alabama and South Carolina, have also been two of the most aggressive in pursuing legislation aimed at restricting the lives of undocumented immigrants. North Carolina has experienced demographic change in a very similar manner. Latino population growth here outpaced all but five other states between 2000 and 2010. Buncombe, Henderson, and Haywood Counties each saw their Latino populations grow by more than 100%. In 1990, less than 1% of Buncombe and Henderson County residents identified as Hispanic or Latino. By 2011, that share had grown to 10% in Henderson County and over 6% in Buncombe County.
This period of rapid growth in Western North Carolina’s Spanish-speaking population has coincided with a variety of other significant changes. Over the past few decades, rural North Carolina has experience major job losses in the textile and furniture industries, due largely to factory closures and outsourcing. Throughout U.S. history, the anxiety and anger awakened during periods of economic upheaval have often found expression in hostility toward newcomers. Increased immigration to the South has not caused factories to close or jobs to be outsourced. However, as job losses and increasing migration have occurred at the same time, immigrants have often become a convenient scapegoat.
State politicians have proven perfectly willing to trade on the fear of immigrants, both on the campaign trail and in drafting legislation. While the North Carolina General Assembly has not taken up an immigration crackdown on the scale of states like Arizona and Alabama, several piecemeal bills have been passed into law over the past six years that have made certain aspects of undocumented immigrants’ lives more difficult. In 2006, the state passed a law requiring a valid Social Security number to obtain a North Carolina driver’s license. Two separate bills passed in 2006 and 2011 expanded mandatory participation in the E-Verify system for all public agencies and large private employers. In March 2011, North Carolina also became the tenth state to implement the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Secure Communities program in every county statewide. Through Secure Communities, every fingerprint taken by local law enforcement is matched against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) database. Since undocumented North Carolinians no longer have access to driver’s licenses, this means that if local police choose to make an arrest for driving without a license, a simple traffic stop can ultimately lead to deportation, even for a long-time resident with no criminal record.
Capitalizing on the momentum of Arizona-style anti-immigrant laws passed in Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina, last fall the North Carolina House of Representatives announced the formation of a Select Committee to study potential new state immigration laws. Six months ago, as high school senior Juan Ramos stood to testify at a public hearing before that committee, he faced a dilemma that confronts approximately 65,000 new high school graduates across the United States each year. All undocumented students are barred from receiving federal financial aid, and in North Carolina such students are also charged out-of-state tuition, no matter how long they have resided in the state. When Ramos takes his turn at the microphone in the video below, his voice is alternately discouraged and resolute, plaintive and defiant, a paradox that befits the limbo-like status of undocumented young people as immigration policy hovers in uncertain territory. “I’m not afraid of saying that I’m undocumented,” he declares, pausing to collect himself before continuing, “I only ask for opportunities.”
At the conclusion of the public hearing portrayed in the video, co-chairmen Frank Iler of Oak Island and Harry Warren of Salisbury told reporters that the Select Committee would wait for the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Arizona’s immigration enforcement bill, in order to see which strategies pioneered in other states are viable options for North Carolina, before recommending any new action on immigration policy. Since that day, more than six months have passed, and in June the Supreme Court overturned much of Arizona’s law while letting one of its most contentious provisions stand.
The Select Committee will not meet to discuss its recommendations to the General Assembly until after the election this fall, and neither co-chair was willing to speculate this week about what those recommendations will be. In the past, however, the committee’s leaders have made their personal desires clear. Shortly before the Select Committee convened for the first time, Rep. Iler told his hometown newspaper, the Wilmington Star-News, “we need to make North Carolina as unwelcoming as possible for any illegal alien wherever they come from." Last year, Iler and Warren both served as co-sponsors for House Bill 11, “No Postsecondary Education/Illegal Aliens,” which would have barred Juan Ramos and students like him from attending any community college or public university in North Carolina, even at the higher tuition rates they are currently forced to pay.
The future remains very uncertain for immigration policy in North Carolina, but the events of the past year provide important lessons for lawmakers and concerned citizens alike. Over the next few days, this blog will examine the recent U.S. Supreme Court Arizona v. United States decision as well as the experiences of two states closer to home, Georgia and Alabama, who have recently experimented with harsh immigration enforcement laws modeled after Arizona's. Stay tuned!
Additional Resources
- For more information on demographic change in North Carolina and the growing impact of migration from Latin America on the state, read UNC-Chapel Hill professor Hannah Gill's recent paper for the Immigration Policy Center, "Latinos in North Carolina: A Growing Part of the State's Economic and Social Landscape," or her book, The Latino Migration Experience in North Carolina: New Roots in the Old North State.
- To learn more about the experiences of undocumented youth in North Carolina, check out the Al Jazeera documentary The Dreamers.
- The video in this post comes courtesy of NC Policy Watch, whose work I highly recommend for anyone interested in North Carolina politics.
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