This is the third in a series of stories on the debate Wednesday night.
By Tyler Musialowski
The first live debate between North Carolina 9th District Congressional candidates Dan Bishop, the Republican, and Democrat Dan McCready aired on WBTV Wednesday evening.
After beginning the debate, also hosted by the Charlotte Observer, on the topic of healthcare, the candidates fielded a series of questions on immigration. UNC FactCheck’s coverage on the healthcare segment of the debate can be found here and here.
Immigration has been a topic of much debate this election cycle, particularly with Republican state Sen. Bishop’s repeated press releases attacking Mecklenburg County Sheriff Gary McFadden decision not to honor ICE detainer requests.
Moderator Christine Sperow directed the first question toward Bishop, asking how he would handle the release of criminal illegal immigrants in light of McFadden’s cancellation of the 287(g) program.
Bishop called out the state’s release of “dangerous criminal illegals, accused of committing serious crimes.” He proceeded to list off the crimes, including “domestic violence, strangulation, violating a domestic violence protective order, rape of a child.”
Some stories of undocumented immgrant crime in Mecklenburg have surfaced in the wake of McFadden’s decision and it seems that Bishop was directly referencing the cases of Luis Pineda-Acheta and Oscar Pacheco.
Bishop referenced Pineda-Acheta’s nine-hour standoff with county police during the debate. After initially being charged with larceny and assault, Pineda-Acheta was released without ICE notification and assaulted the same victim soon after.
Pacheco was arrested in early August for first-degree rape and taking indecent liberties with a minor. ICE’s detainer request for Pacheco also went unhonored and he was released from custody on June 16. He was taken back into custody on August 9.
Bishop later discussed House Bill 370, an attempted piece of immigration legislation that was designed to enforce sheriff compliance with ICE detainer requests. He offered the bill as a framework for how to handle the ongoing situation in Mecklenburg County.
On August 22, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the bill.
“The governor vetoed it because he favors sanctuary-city policy,” Bishop said during the debate.
Cooper has previously authored an explanation of his HB370 veto, saying, “This bill, in addition to being unconstitutional, weakens law enforcement in North Carolina by mandating sheriffs to do the job of federal agents, using local resources that could hurt their ability to protect their counties.”
McCready responded on the debate stage by claiming Bishop is using the discussion of immigration and law enforcement to “play partisan political games.”
“I don’t think it’s right that state Senator Bishop would attack our law enforcement,” McCready said.
McCready then argued that fingers should not be pointed at sheriffs, but at Congress for their inaction on the issue of immigration reform.
Sperow followed up by asking McCready about handling the ongoing migrant crisis and managing families at the border.
McCready said that comprehensive, bipartisan reform is a must.
“We need a secure border,” McCready said. “If Democrats are saying we don’t need a secure border, that’s crazy. Now, I don’t think we need 3,000 miles of walls to do it. I think we can use the technology I used over in Iraq…to supplement the physical barriers that are there to secure the border.”
McCready, a Marine in the war in Iraq, cited military surveillance technology as a possible option for the southern border.
Bishop rebutted by siding with President Donald Trump, arguing that a physical border wall is necessary.
Bishop then offered a critique of the asylum system in the United States. He claimed that the process was designed for people fleeing political persecution, and provided the example of Jews fleeing Nazi Germany.
“It is not designed to handle basic economic migration,” Bishop said.
According to United States asylum law, “if the officer determines that an alien does not have a credible fear of persecution, the officer shall order the alien removed from the United States without further hearing or review.”
Asylum seekers may be granted admission to the country for persecution on the grounds of “race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.”
Economic migration is not explicitly covered under asylum law.
