Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page attended the North Carolina Judiciary Committee Hearing on Wednesday Feb. 22nd at the Legislative Office Building in Raleigh to give testimony regarding House Bill 10 (HB10) which is titled “Require Sheriffs to Cooperate with ICE”.

HB10 is a bill to require compliance with Federal Immigration Detainers and Administrative Warrants, along with requiring certain reports, from law enforcement. During Sheriff Page’s testimony, he spoke on behalf of this bill and reminded the committee members present that he supported this bill because it is about Public Safety; and those in opposition to the bill could be contributing to future victimization in communities.

This bill addresses the detention of persons who are illegally in the United States who are being held on criminal charges in local county jails in North Carolina. Upon the issuance of Administrative Warrants or Detainers by US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), these local county jails would be required to hold the illegal immigrant for up to 48 hours to allow ICE time to begin the deportation process.

“I truly believe the best way to make our communities safer is to remove any criminal elements”, said Sheriff Sam Page. “This prevents future victimization of our citizens and other members of our immigrant populations. I would like to thank all of the N.C. House Judiciary members that supported this important Public Safety Bill on Wednesday, including Representative Reece Pyrtle (Rockingham County) who was present at the hearing and voted in support of HB10.”