On Tuesday, the North Carolina General Assembly ratified a bill called the "Protect North Carolina Workers Act" (H.B. 318) that aims to prohibit "sanctuary cities" — the term is used to refer to cities that pass laws or regulations that limit the extent to which local law enforcement has to cooperate with federal authorities on immigration issues, according to CNN. In reality, it would simply serve to make life harder for families of undocumented immigrants, the Flama reports. 

Under the bill, undocumented immigrants would no longer be allowed to use consulate or county documentation as ID, and it would also require government employers to use E-Verify, which is an online system that checks the legal status of workers in the U.S., according to the Daily Tar Heel. This would make it harder for undocumented immigrants to find jobs in the U.S., as well as apply for benefits like Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). 

Nancy Cardenas, a resident of Palmview, Texas, started a Change.org petition urging North Carolina governor Patrick McRory to veto the bill. She wrote:

Growing up Latina in a predominantly immigrant community, I've seen firsthand how racist anti-immigrant laws can have devastating effects on immigrant families. Many of my family members and dearest friends are undocumented, which is why I was so shocked to learn about a scary anti-immigrant bill that just arrived on North Carolina Governor McRory's desk.

If passed, this bill would overturn all sorts of laws in the state that have helped to build trust between the undocumented community and local law enforcement. HB 318 would allow local police to arrest anyone who is not carrying state identification — mostly undocumented immigrants who carry IDs from their home countries — and turn them over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Critics argue that the bill will worsen existing racial discrimination in North Carolina and force already vulnerable people underground. Rubi Quiroz, an undocumented University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill student who's able to attend school and work in the U.S. under Deferred Action for the Childhood Arrivals (DACA), tells the Tar Heel of a time a police officer pulled over her mother, who's undocumented, and a coworker of her mother's (they were in the car together). The officer ticketed Quiroz's mother for not having an ID (she eventually had to go to court), but when her mother's non-Latina friend offered to show the officer her own ID, the officer let her go without checking it. (It's unclear who was driving the car.)

"Just by the fact that that lady knew how to speak English, they just let her go," Quiroz said. "That, to me, is what makes me feel that that cop racially profiled the crap out of my mom."

Supporters of the bill argue that H.B. 318 allows for closer and more rigorous enforcement of existing immigration laws. "I think most of us in the country would feel we don't want just anybody authorizing those documents and then people masquerading as being citizens when they aren't," Ron Woodard, director of North Carolina immigration reform organization NC LISTEN told the Daily Tar Heel. "All of this weakness encourages more people to break the law and come into our country illegally."

As of now, Governor McRory hasn't signed the bill into law, but he has expressed his support for tougher immigration laws on Twitter.

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