RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republicans have retooled legislation designed to counter recent decisions by some new sheriffs who are refusing to comply with written requests by federal immigration agents to hold criminal defendants.

The amended measure eases somewhat a directive in the version that the House approved in April. That version would have forced sheriffs to fulfill Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers.

The alternative debated by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday lets a judge or magistrate decide whether to hold an inmate for ICE. The changes were enough for the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association to now back the measure.

Immigration and civil rights advocates still oppose the updated bill, saying the changes don’t ease the chilling effect such directives have on crime victims who are in the country unlawfully.

Copyright 2019, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

 

Photo credit/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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