A Democratic North Carolina lawmaker claimed she was threatened last summer when she was on the verge of supporting legislation forcing sheriffs to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
North Carolina State Rep. Carla Cunningham of Charlotte joined Republicans in July to successfully override Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s veto of House Bill 318, which required sheriffs to honor detainers issued by ICE.
She claimed that in the days before that vote, Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden gave her strong hints of potential harm to come to her if she supported Republicans, according to the Daily Caller.
McFadden, a Democrat, opposes collaboration with ICE.
“As the conversation went on, he said he didn’t want to see me get hurt and I said, ‘Well, you know, I’m already under security,’ which I thought that he would have known because CMPD [Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department] knew, because the General Assembly police work with the local,” Cunningham said.
“But then he said, ‘but you’re in my county,’” she said.
Cunningham said the implication was clear to her — that McFadden would not protect her from members of the public if she opposed his politics.
She said that she did not regret her position.
“I’ve always been what you considered a moderate Democrat, that independent thinking,” she remarked. “With my nursing background, of course, you have to have good judgment skills as well as critical thinking skills, and I rely on those quite a bit.”
On Monday, Cunningham filed a petition asking a Mecklenburg County judge to remove McFadden, according to NCNewsline.
The petition claimed McFadden sought to extort or bribe Cunningham on the override vote.
The petition also said McFadden should be ousted because of safety issues at the jail, retaliation directed at the sheriff’s critics, and the sheriff’s use of duty deputies to take visiting officials to strip clubs and bars, according to the Charlotte Observer.
“The Sheriff is aware of the removal petition and allegations made, however we are not releasing a statement at this time,” a representative for McFadden told the Daily Caller.
Cunningham, who said she had to hire private security after the July vote, faces a primary in March, according to NC Newsline.
Cunningham recently apologized for comments she made on the House floor when the override took place, according to the Charlotte Observer.
In the speech, Cunningham said America had been “exploited and abused by the different tactics to gain citizenship in America.”
“First, as a people, we need to recognize that it’s not just the numbers that matter, but also where the immigrants come from and the culture they bring with them to another country,” she said last year. “As the social scientists report, all cultures are not equal.”
In a comment posted on her campaign website, Cunningham said her vote at the time was accompanied by “intimidation and bullying” that left her “shaken to my core.”
“In this state, I said things that offended members of the community, and I take full accountability for my words and my actions. And I sincerely apologize,” she said.
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