NC lawmakers move to crack down on Charlotte's sheriff... again (02-25-2025--Hour2)

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[00:00:29] All right, so the North Carolina Senate has now filed a bill and actually one of the primary sponsors of the bill is Senate Majority or Senate President Pro Tem, Phil Berger, sometimes called the 51st Senator. No, he's not. I think that was actually one of his advisors, Jim Blaine. But anyway, Senator Berger is the leader of the Republicans, the leader of the Senate.

[00:00:56] And he has been in the office, I don't know, like, I think now he's going on almost 30 years there. Very powerful leader in North Carolina politics. So the fact that his name is on this bill as a primary sponsor means this bill is probably going to pass. Now, what happens to it over in the House? I don't know. I would suspect it also passes. Maybe they want to make some changes to it. I don't know.

[00:01:26] My only advice, not that anybody is asking for it, nor would they probably ever hear me say this, nor would they probably listen to me if they did. But for whatever that's worth, let me just make one minor recommendation on the bill, which is.

[00:01:41] Make sure that Gary McFadden, the sheriff of Mecklenburg County, make sure that he does not have some kind of loophole to wiggle himself through. Because he will find it. He will look for it. But God knows how much staff time he devotes to finding ways not to cooperate with ICE.

[00:02:10] Right. Sheriff Gary, not my fault, McFadden, has now prompted yet another rewrite of a law because he is an obstinate, arrogant man. He refuses, refuses to cooperate with ICE. And I know he says that's not true. He does cooperate when, you know, you spell it out in explicit detail.

[00:02:39] You are required to notify them via an email with a subject line. Like you have to spell this thing out for him in law. So there is no way that he can wiggle out of it because what he is doing now, which is what he did with the concealed carry permit issue. It's what he did with the. The notification of ICE before they passed the first law last session to try to clamp down on his dumb ass behavior.

[00:03:09] Right. Then he finds another loophole, which is I don't have to call ICE. Because, see, the detainer request that comes from ICE. The detainer request says. Notify us preferably within 48 hours before you're about to release somebody. From your jail. Right. You have an illegal alien in the jail. They have been identified. Right.

[00:03:37] Let us know that they're there. And let us know that if we put a detainer on somebody, let us know if you're fixing to get they're fixing to get out. And that's not in the law. See, that's in the detainer request. That's an ICE detainer. And because it's an ask and it's not mandated, he doesn't do it. He doesn't call them.

[00:04:06] He says so. He says, I don't have to call them. And then remember his spokesperson last week said something. Oh, what do they want? A two minute warning or something? Just any warning. Any warning whatsoever. Right. If somebody is being held in the jail under a bond. Right. And you find out that. Oh, they're an illegal alien. So I says, hey, we see they're an illegal alien.

[00:04:31] We want to put a detainer on them so then we can come get them before they get released back out into the community. That's the whole point. That ICE wants to take them into custody before they are released back out into the society where they will either flee. They will disappear. Right. Or they will commit more crimes. They're not supposed to be here. ICE wants to take them into custody.

[00:04:58] And it is far safer for the community if that transfer of custody is done inside a secure environment like a jail. Like a jail. You already have the bars on the doors and the windows. You've got keyed access. You have guards. You have all of the things necessary to effect.

[00:05:22] A safe and peaceful transfer of power from one entity to another. And so ICE is simply saying before you let the guy out. Right. When when the guy posts bail. And he's about to be released. Please let us know, preferably within 48 hours. But let ICE know this guy is getting ready to be released. See. And if you tell ICE, hey, this guy posted where we're doing the paperwork.

[00:05:51] He's he's about to be let go. Then then it's on ICE. See, that's the thing. Then this is no longer your problem anymore. And if ICE fails to come and get him. That's not your problem anymore, Gary. You're done. Your hands are clean. But see, Gary doesn't want them to actually take custody of the offender. Sorry. The resident of the jail. As he likes to call them. Right. They're not inmates. You don't call them inmates.

[00:06:22] No, they're residents. He likes to call them residents. So he doesn't want them released. How do I know this? He said so. He said it last week. He said, you know, deportations don't make the community safer. We can't arrest our way out of this. We can't deport ourselves. And actually, yes, you can.

[00:06:45] That's the whole reason why you have a jail is to remove people who cannot live peaceably in a society. It's to get them out of the society where they are victimizing other people. I was watching. Well, I saw a video clip. I think it's the president of. I think it's El Salvador. I think that's the country where the guy has been like cracking down on crime. I forget his name.

[00:07:15] And it was a couple of weeks ago and some economists put out some report and they were like, you know, if you if you crack down on crime, you're going to see. A hit to the economy.

[00:07:27] A hit to the economy, which I'd never heard this argument before. And Pedro is out there selling tomatoes in the market.

[00:07:57] And Pedro works all day at the market selling tomatoes and he makes five dollars a day. And then on the way home. And it's long, hard work. Right. Long, hard work. All day long. Twelve, fourteen hours in the day. And you make five bucks. And then on my way home from work, from the market, going to my house. I am jumped by a couple of gang members and they steal my five dollars and maybe all of my tomatoes, too.

[00:08:26] What signal does that send to me? It says I can be a gang member and make five dollars for 10 minutes worth of work and get a bunch of tomatoes, too. Right. So I can just steal from somebody else and have way more time to steal other things and I can make way more money. That is a rational decision. If you are willing, if this if the society. Right.

[00:08:53] Has gone down this path and has has just accepted this as the status quo, then you will have more people that engage in that behavior. It becomes a rational choice. And that's the same thing going on here. Right. If you if you don't send the signal, look what's happening on the southern border. The signal has been sent. If you come here, we will deport you. The new sheriff in town. Trump is going to deport a whole bunch of people. And the border crossings are down like 90 percent.

[00:09:24] Because the message has been received. Signal received. That's the point. And it allows for the people who are more interested in living in a peaceful, high trust society. It gives them the superior position. And then you have more peace loving people engaged in productive pursuits. Right. This is basic societal level stuff.

[00:09:53] And somewhere along the line. The purveyors of utopia, a.k.a. these Marxist progressives. These folks have lost sight of what it takes to actually have a functioning free society. Well, probably because they're Marxist. Yeah. That would explain it. You know, stories are powerful. They help us make sense of things, to understand experiences. Stories connect us to the people of our past while transcending generations. They help us process the meaning of life.

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[00:11:13] So, Gary, not my fault McFadden, the sheriff of Mecklenburg County, has found another way to try to not cooperate with immigration. And customs enforcement. When illegal aliens accused of violent offenses or have deportation orders on them and all of that, they end up in the jail. They get arrested for something. They end up in the jail.

[00:11:39] And ICE sends over a detainer. They, you know, they put it into the system and they're like, okay, we got this guy in jail. And ICE is like, hey, put a 48-hour detainer on the guy. And so, and this came up two weeks ago, I want to say, where this very situation occurred. And the guy got let out. And this guy was a bad hombre. Right?

[00:12:08] He had whipped up on his spouse or something. And these were violent charges. ICE asked for, they put a detainer on him. And then he posted bail and got out. And the sheriff's office never called ICE to tell ICE that he was getting ready to be released. And so ICE took umbrage at that. And then sheriff, not my fault, McFadden, it's like, not my fault.

[00:12:38] Very on brand. It's not my fault. And they're like, well, the detainer we gave you says very clearly, let us know if the guy's about to be released from your custody. And that's not in the law. See, that's just on the detainer form. And so, you know, I don't have to call you. ICE is like, yeah, you should call us. You have to call us. He's like, it doesn't say that in the law, so I don't have to do it. See? So this is yet another loophole.

[00:13:07] So now you've got the North Carolina Border Protection Act filed by Senators Berger, along with Warren Daniel and Buck Newton. The three primary sponsors, all of whom are powerful senators in the state legislature. They've got a bunch of whereases in the bill. This is Senate Bill 153.

[00:13:28] While the federal government is ultimately responsible for the enforcement of our nation's immigration laws, states and local governments have a critical role to play in upholding the rule of law, fighting illegal immigration and protecting the safety of our citizens. And they point out, whereas Trump issued executive orders, one of which was to declare a national emergency on the southern border of the United States.

[00:13:57] Why is our sheriff acting like that did not happen? There was an emergency declaration. Why are you pretending that that did not occur, sheriff? They go on to say Article 5, I'm sorry, Section 5 of Article 3 of the state constitution charges the governor with taking care that the laws are faithfully executed.

[00:14:25] And whereas to date, Governor Stein has not directed the agencies, law enforcement officers or other agents of the state to take actions to one, support or participate in the initiatives to accomplish these goals of securing taxpayer dollars for American and state citizens. Or two, to prevent actions by agencies or political subdivisions like the sheriff's office that may frustrate those purposes.

[00:14:54] Right. So they take aim. They're pointing out that the governor has the power to apply pressure on McFadden and he's not doing it. Nobody's doing it, by the way. Nobody in the Democrat Party is doing it. Nobody is saying, hey, Gary, hey, moron, you might want to not release the violent offenders. Maybe. OK, look, if you got somebody who has got an ICE detainer on them and they're not a violent offender,

[00:15:21] like if you don't want to call ICE and let ICE know that they're about to bail out, that's one thing. But when you got a guy who is a violent offender, it's probably not a good idea. It's not good optics to let him out. This has happened now so often. Right. Like.

[00:15:43] I don't understand why just from a from a political pragmatism point of view, why his fellow Democrats have not come to him and said, dude, don't release the violent ones because it makes headlines, moron. It makes headlines. It makes all the Democrats look bad and it makes the sheriff look really bad. And then he goes out and has to do these sit down interviews. And maybe that's really what the whole thing is about for him.

[00:16:11] I don't know. But he goes and does the sit down interviews and he says more stupid stuff. And that makes Democrats look bad. You guys got a problem. Democrats, you have a problem with this sheriff. You need to address it. You guys need to be calling this out in public. And I know the media is not going to ask you to play defend or disavow with this sheriff. I know that. That being said, you can do it on your own. You can actually come out and say, hey, you know what?

[00:16:38] We should not be releasing these violent offenders back out into the streets where they prey upon the very community that you claim you're trying to protect. Protect them. Take a stand for what is right. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina, just a quick drive up the mountain. And Cabins of Asheville is your connection.

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[00:17:54] And they have pet-friendly accommodations. Call or text 828-367-7068. Or check out all there is to offer at cabinsofashville.com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. I have a message here from Dennis who says, You've made me think of a new nickname for Sheriff Gary Not My Fault McFadden. How about Gary Loophol McFadden?

[00:18:23] Gary Loophol McFadden. I don't know. You gotta have, I think you gotta have some sort of alliteration in the nickname for it really to land. So the M in Not My Fault McFadden, that's what helps it. I'm not saying it's the best nickname. I am open to others. But it's gotta be descriptive. And look, when you, it captures McFadden's response to literally everything.

[00:18:53] Everything that goes wrong under his command is not his fault. He'll tell you. Every time the state comes in and dings them for not complying with some rules or whatever, not my fault, not our fault. It's the racist jail inspectors hired by the state. That's what he said. Nothing is ever his fault.

[00:19:21] And then a message from Mark, who says, Pete, we need to pick up the tradition of naming a law for a person involved in a preventable tragedy. I propose we call this latest legislation Gary's Law. I like it. Although there are two R's in Gary. I don't know why. That's how he spells it. So I'm fine. Well, I'm going to write it down right now.

[00:19:49] Senate Bill 153, Gary's Law. I wrote it down. I'm going to refer to it as Gary's Law from now on, Mark. I like that idea. So this is a six-page bill, right? I've highlighted parts of it. I've read through it all.

[00:20:10] And so the part one says cooperation with federal immigration officials says the secretary of the Department of Public Safety shall do. So that's not may. That's shall. That is a directive. Okay. You have to do this. Shall do each of the following. And then it has a list of four items.

[00:20:31] The first one is, I think probably the most important, which is enter into a memorandum of agreement with the director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pursuant to 287G of the Illegal Immigration Reform Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. 287G. See, Gary, now the state's going to make you do it. All right.

[00:21:01] This is the find out part. Okay. We're in the find out stage of the equation. You are now finding out. Okay. Or if you prefer, from a Bronx tale, now you just can't leave. Right. You're in here with us. See, I'm not in here with you. You're in here with me. That's where you are right now. That's where you find yourself with the state legislature. You are on their radar, my friend. And they are aware of your shenanigans. Not just you.

[00:21:31] There are a couple other sheriffs around the state that are still trying to weasel out through these loopholes, too. Sure. But now the state's going to mandate 287G for all of these, for the Department of Public Safety. Also, the Department of Adult Correction. Also, the Highway Patrol.

[00:21:56] Also, the SBI, State Bureau of Investigation. So now everybody goes to 287G. Congratulations, Gary. Good job. The thing that you refused to participate in that was so egregious and offensive to you and your voting base in the Democrat primary now shall be mandated across the entire state. Give it up. Gary's law mandating 287G. I love it.

[00:22:22] Gary got the thing imposed across the state that he ran a campaign on and won to get rid of in Mecklenburg County. Oh, sweet irony. So that's the first thing that it does. It also says that in this. So they just they replicate all four of these bullet points, basically, through all of the legislation or proposal.

[00:22:48] The bill for, you know, the bill for, you know, adult correction, the SBI and the highway patrol. So this is all the same language for each of these different divisions. They have to develop departmental policies requiring. Requiring. That employees of the department shall attempt to determine if any person is in custody or under the supervision of the department is a legal resident or citizen.

[00:23:13] When employees are unable to determine, then they shall not may shall make a query with ICE. So they have to ask. And then when you determine that a person is not a legal resident or citizen, they shall provide requested information regarding that person to ICE. They also have to cooperate to the fullest extent allowed by law.

[00:23:42] The fullest extent allowed by law. And that goes for all of the departments. Then in part three, get this. We can sue. Yeah. Yeah. A county in violation of this section shall have waived its governmental immunity.

[00:24:11] A county shall have waived its immunity from civil liability in tort if it does not comply with this statute. And an unauthorized alien commits a crime against a person or property within the corporate limits of that county. That tells me that Mecklenburg County Commissioners, y'all just got tagged into the game. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome to the party.

[00:24:38] Mecklenburg County, you guys are now going to have to take an interest in this very issue. Because now people are going to be able to sue. Gary lets somebody out and they go on to reoffend. Now you can get sued. The county can get sued. See, because the sheriff doesn't have his own budget. He's got to go to the county for the funding. And the county.

[00:24:59] Probably not going to look too kindly on having to spend millions and millions and millions of dollars on all sorts of litigation because Gary keeps turning violent offenders loose without telling ICE first. Then it goes on to say, finally, this is part four. Adoption of sanctuary status prohibited.

[00:25:23] No, no constituent institution may have in effect any policy or procedure that limits or restricts the enforcement of federal immigration laws to less than the full extent permitted by federal law. No constituent institution shall do any of the following related to information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual. Okay?

[00:25:50] So you cannot do this. Prohibit law enforcement officials or agencies from gathering that info. You cannot direct law enforcement officials or agencies not to gather the info. And you cannot prohibit the communication of that info to federal law enforcement agencies. So I like the direction of this is to button up as much of this as possible.

[00:26:19] But I'm sure Gary's already got people on staff looking into how to skirt this law. Because this is a real priority for him. All right. If you're listening to this show, you know I try to keep up with all sorts of current events. And I know you do too. And you've probably heard me say, get your news from multiple sources. Why? Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with Ground News.

[00:26:45] It's an app and it's a website and it combines news from around the world in one place. So you can compare coverage and verify information. You can check it out at check.ground.news slash Pete. I put the link in the podcast description too. I started using Ground News a few months ago and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right.

[00:27:15] See for yourself. Check.ground.news slash Pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get 15% off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports Ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. Real quick, this is from the press release that was issued by Senator Phil Berger's office.

[00:27:41] Today, Senate Leader Phil Berger, along with Senators Warren Daniel and Buck Newton, filed the North Carolina Border Protection Act, or as we call it now, Gary's Law, to ensure state law enforcement officials are cooperating with federal immigration laws and that residents are protected from harmful sanctuary city policies. Further, it protects the taxpayers by ensuring that only those eligible receive state-funded public benefits like low-income housing tax credits, child care subsidies, and caregiver support.

[00:28:11] Senate Bill 153, Gary's Law, also directs UNC system institutions to cooperate with immigration officials. Those law enforcement agencies will be required to determine the immigration status of anybody in custody or under its supervision. The Office of State Budget and Management would be required to determine whether and to what extent certain state-funded public benefit programs are being provided to unauthorized immigrants and post their findings publicly.

[00:28:40] The Office of State Budget and Management would then be required to take steps to ensure that state funds for public benefits are only being provided to those who qualify for it. While sanctuary city policies are already prohibited in the state, municipalities across the state continue to defy the state law.

[00:28:58] To hold them accountable, any county or municipality that creates sanctuary cities will have its local immunity waived, thereby allowing citizens harmed by illegal immigrants to sue those municipalities. Finally, it prohibits UNC system campuses from adopting any policy that does not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement and or adopting sanctuary school policies.

[00:29:26] Now, Sheriff Not My Fault McFadden, I think after a couple of, well, a couple more weeks of bad press, I think he was probably interested in polishing up his tough-on-crime persona. You know, you gotta kinda nip that stuff in the bud. If you're the sheriff, you can't very well be, you know, a soft-on-crime character.

[00:29:51] So, you get a bunch of bad press because you let another violent offender out of the jail and didn't call ICE and then claimed you don't need to call ICE, that they should call you, and you didn't call them, even though you knew that you were about to release this person and ICE has asked you to let them know, but you don't technically have to call them, so you're not going to.

[00:30:14] So, how best to try to counteract this narrative that may be calcifying that you are not exactly serious about keeping violent offenders off the streets and preying on members of their community. So, well, you rat out a snitch. That's what McFadden's office has decided to do.

[00:30:41] It's a bold strategy. I don't know if it'll work, but we'll see. Got the press release yesterday. Headline. Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office Deputy Safely Arrest Carjacking Suspect. Oh. Did you know the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office are now doing door-kicking operations on their own? I wasn't aware of that.

[00:31:04] I guess it's kind of like their speed trap that they ran up in the white part of, what was it, Huntersville or wherever, when he first took over. It's one of the first things he did was right up on there on Jeton Road, like to try to, you know, get a bunch of tickets for the whiteys. That's what he said. I mean, he didn't say that. But he said, I mean, he basically said like, oh, they live in privilege and all this. And so, I mean, it was in the fever of, you know, St. George Floyd days.

[00:31:35] So, like, that's what he did. So, I don't know. I wasn't aware that they were doing these types of operations and maybe they always have. I just always thought that this was more of a CMPD kind of a thing, right? But here's the press release. On the morning of Friday, February 21st, Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office deputies successfully arrested Quinton Walsh. And then they gave his prisoner ID number, which is weird because I thought he called them all residents.

[00:32:05] So, you haven't changed the code yet to RID? Anyway, this is a suspect that was involved in a carjacking out of Huntersville. Now, listen to this next part. I find it to be a tad unusual. Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office deputies received information from a prior arrest tied to the carjacking,

[00:32:31] which the arrested individual provided a tip on Walsh's whereabouts. And then they went and arrested the guy. Acting on the information, deputies set up surveillance outside the home where Walsh was known to be. They identified him. A perimeter established. And within 10 minutes of the initial identification, a search of the home was conducted.

[00:33:00] Walsh was found under a mattress in a back bedroom, taken into custody after briefly resisting. And the guy had apparently spray painted the vehicle that he had stolen, spray painted it black to try to conceal it. Well, just let me go back to that first part, the first part that I said to listen to, which was deputies received information from a prior arrest tied to the carjacking,

[00:33:29] which the arrested individual provided a tip on Walsh's whereabouts. Well, now you know who snitched. Why would you put that in a press release? What are you doing? Are you trying to get this guy shanked? Are you trying to get this guy murdered? When he goes back out on the street, you're trying to get him in trouble with the neighborhood.

[00:33:58] You know, snitches get stitches and all of that. Why would you put that in a press release? Probably because you don't write a lot of these types of press releases. I can only assume. And so you were just trying to make the press release be more than like six sentences or something. I don't know. But you shouldn't put that in the press release. You know, you wait until the thing gets to trial. If it goes to trial, which I mean, this is Mecklenburg County, so it's probably not even going to go to trial. You know, it's probably going to be a plea agreement.

[00:34:26] You don't need you don't need to put this out there. Why would you do that? This is a prior arrest tied to the carjacking. So I guess this was another. It's like they carjacked somebody. They stole the vehicle. They committed some other crime. CMPD caught that guy, put him in the jail. And then that guy ratted out this dude Walsh.

[00:34:52] And now you've just literally put out a press release identifying. The informant. I'm no, you know, policing expert, but from all the TV shows and movies that I have seen. And of course, you know, covering the crime beat in Charlotte for the better part of 20 years. Like, I kind of feel like I know what the next story in this or the next chapter in the story might very well be.

[00:35:24] Russ says it's curious. Is there a way to get a number for how many times U.S. Marshals or other feds, SWAT, violent offender task force, or even multiple patrol units have been deployed to arrest somebody after McFadden ignored a detainer? Yeah, I mean, there's I think there's three that I'm aware of at this point. Also, was there a connection with McFadden in the incident where the marshals and officers were shot last year? There was not in that one that I'm aware of. Oh, my goodness.

[00:35:55] So apparently Deb Butler, she's the we will not yet, Mr. Speaker. Remember that woman, the crazy state representative? Yes, apparently she's got another bill telling locals not to comply with ICE. Maybe live in stupid times. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them, too, and tell them you heard it here.

[00:36:24] You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepcalendorshow.com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.