Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Republican legislation ordering North Carolina's sheriffs to note the immigration status of jail inmates and assist federal agents who want to detain them received state Senate approval on Thursday. The legislation passed along partisan lines after a divisive debate that touched on race and ethnicity. The bill generally echoes a 2019 measure that Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper successfully vetoed. Now, as then, the GOP's House and Senate majorities aren't veto-proof. Immigration enforcement bills are popular with the Republicans' voter base. The bills were prompted by GOP lawmakers angered by the refusal of first-term Democratic sheriffs in several urban counties to work closely with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to identity and hold defendants believed to be in the country illegally. The sheriffs' decisions, according to Republicans, have led to violent criminals being freed and causing more harm.