North Carolina Rep. Carla Cunningham (D-Mecklenburg) speaks on the House floor on July 29, 2025. Cunningham voted to override one of Gov. Josh Stein's vetoes, breaking with her Democratic Party colleagues. (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline)

It’s no surprise that State Rep. Carla Cunningham – a Democrat from Mecklenburg County — declined to speak with reporters this week after helping to override Gov. Stein’s veto of a mean-spirited and ill-conceived anti-immigrant bill.

That’s what often happens when a politician puts their foot in their mouth.

House Bill 318 will force local sheriffs – even when it makes their communities less safe—to cooperate with federal ICE officials in detaining people merely accused of criminal offenses.

It’s one of the ham-handed tactics the Trump administration has been using to terrorize immigrant communities and round up good people for deportation.

Unfortunately, all of this seems to have escaped Cunningham, who not only provided the decisive ‘yes’ vote, but who also gave an uninformed speech in which she accused immigrants of exploiting and abusing native born Americans and implied that immigrant cultures are inferior.

The bottom line: Cunningham embarrassed herself and her constituents – many of them foreign born – with her cruel rant. One prays she’ll awaken soon from her delusions.

For NC Newsline, I’m Rob Schofield.