North Carolina’s Attorney General Josh Stein has “serious concerns” about President Trump’s National Emergency Declaration – but his office won’t detail them.
Stein won’t be entering into the 16 state coalition suing President Trump over the move. Instead, a statement from Stein was tweeted by the official North Carolina Department of Justice account that said he has “serious concerns” about the declaration and are reviewing it.
.@JoshStein_ : "I have serious concerns about the legality of President Trump’s emergency declaration. We are reviewing the order, and in particular any effects on North Carolina military installations. We will not hesitate to take action if we conclude it is necessary.”
— NC Attorney General (@NCAGO) February 19, 2019
Battleground State News reached out to the North Carolina Department of Justice (NCDOJ) for clarification on the Attorney General’s specific “serious concerns.”
In our questions to the NCDOJ, we asked about the 31 active National Emergencies that have been declared since 1979. 10 of them were enacted under President Obama. Our research found no “serious concerns” lodged by Mr. Stein as a legislator or since taking office as Attorney General, so we asked for details of what his current “serious concerns” with the Trump declaration were.
The second question we asked was whether Attorney General Stein had any “serious concerns” about what North Carolinians might consider border-related state-level emergencies.
As previously reported by Battleground State News, illegal immigration costs the taxpayers of North Carolina roughly $2.5 billion a year. Also, in the prior report, we noted roughly 215 illegal aliens were arrested in 2018 on over 740 sexual assault-related charges.
In the last election cycle, three major urban areas saw a change of leadership in sheriff departments. In Wake, Charlotte and Durham Counties, sheriff’s were elected who have refused to honor ICE detainers on illegal aliens who are arrested in their jurisdictions.
A spokesperson from the NCDOJ responded but did not answer our specific questions.
“Attorney General Stein took office in 2017. Since that time, as Attorney General, he has directed our office to closely review any executive order issued that may have a significant impact on the people of North Carolina,” Laura Brewer, Communications Director for the North Carolina Department of Justice, replied in an email.
Last month, Attorney General Stein held a press conference supporting proposed legislation to expedite and fund the large backlog of untested rape kits in the state.
The issue of the rape kit backlogged has been a controversy for Stein since taking office. It has also been an issue that has dogged his predecessor, Governor Roy Cooper. In 2003, then-Attorney General Roy Cooper pledged to clear the rape kit backlog. When Cooper ran for governor in 2016, his campaign said there “is no backlog.”
According to EndTheBackLog.org, North Carolina is number one in the country with 15,160 untested rape kits. Behind North Carolina in the list is California (13,615), Florida (13,435), Georgia (10,314) and Tennessee (9,062).
Despite a recent 800 reduction from that 15,160 total, North Carolina still ranks number one in the country for backlogged rape kits. The true total number of untested rape kits statewide is arguably unknown.
According to the report which accompanied a February 2018 press release by the North Carolina Department of Justice, only 92 percent of law enforcement agencies responded to the inventory request and 46 agencies did not respond at all.
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A.P. Dillon is the North Carolina Bureau Chief for The Tennesee Star and a reporter at Battleground State News. Follow A.P. Dillon on Twitter. Email Tips to [email protected].
