Sherrill signs order barring ICE from mounting civil operations from state property

Gov. Mikie Sherrill on Wednesday afternoon signed an executive order barring federal officials from basing civil immigration enforcement operations on state-owned property.

Sherrill and acting Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies cannot use state property — including parking lots and parkways — to gather and subsequently launch civil immigration enforcement. Her moves come as her administration looks to limit the federal government’s ability to use state capacity to launch major immigration operations.

“If they want to access public state areas, they can, like everyone else,” Sherrill said. “They can even make lawful individual arrests there, but they can’t gather on state land for operations, and they can’t send agents looking for people in non-public areas, like state offices, childcare centers, state college dorms, or senior homes without a warrant signed by a judge.”

She also officially launched an online portal where residents can upload images and videos of immigration officials conducting operations. Sherrill said they are launching the portal to gain a clearer understanding of how and where Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents (who she deemed less than “forthcoming”) operate.

“People should record from a safe distance, but we know these agents aren’t sharing their plans or their identities,” Sherrill told reporters. They don’t even bother to check if they’re arresting American citizens by mistake. This portal will help us to hold them accountable, to track their actions, collect that information, and use it to spot patterns that can inform our response as a state, including in court.”

The information submitted to the portal will not be publicly accessible, they said, and submissions can be made anonymously.

An unnamed spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security called the executive order “legally illiterate” and argued the move protects criminals.

Sherrill first announced these initiatives during a visit to The Daily Show last month. The state also launched a website with a “Know Your Rights” section for residents and organizations.

The portal is not the first of its kind. New York Attorney General Letitia James launched a similar website in October, and California opened a portal for residents to report alleged ICE wrongdoing in December.

Legislative Republicans are already denouncing the portal, which they argue puts the public and immigration agents at increased risk.

“When you empower activists to stalk officers doing their jobs, you are deliberately raising the temperature,” Assembly Republican Leader John DiMaio said. “This isn’t about transparency. It’s about politics.”

States are generally prohibited from interfering with federal law enforcement operations, but there is also little legal obligation to actively cooperate with such operations. Davenport lauded the Immigrant Trust Directive, a state policy that generally bars state and local police from cooperating on civil immigration operations.

ICE operations have faced increased scrutiny after the killings of two Minneapolis residents during a major operation in Minnesota. State officials are also investigating an ICE-involved shooting in Roxbury, New Jersey, on Tuesday; nobody was injured. Davenport, citing an open investigation, declined to comment on the Roxbury incident.

Assemblywoman Annette Quijano (D-Elizabeth) announced Wednesday that she planned to introduce legislation similar to Sherrill’s executive order.

“Public property exists to serve our communities — not to be used in ways that spread fear,” Quijano said in a release. “When immigration enforcement stages from local government spaces, it undermines trust and discourages families from accessing schools, hospitals, and essential services.”