Alamance County Stops Housing ICE Detainees Citing Iryna’s Law

Sheriff Terry Johnson announced the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office will no longer accept or house Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees, telling ICE in a certified letter that the county’s detention center can no longer take ICE inmates and that the change went into effect Nov. 16, 2025, according to WFMY News 2 coverage of the decision.

Johnson cited North Carolina House Bill 307, known locally as Iryna’s Law, as a primary reason for the move. ABC11 reports Johnson’s statement that “These changes materially affect our ability to manage classification, housing, and supervision of detainees in our facility and will require us to prioritize bed space and resources for local and state inmates and remain compliant with state law and court directives.” ABC11 also notes the law is named for Iryna Zarutska, described in that coverage as a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who was stabbed to death on a Charlotte light-rail train.

Operational pressure inside the Alamance County Detention Center in Graham informed Johnson’s decision. WFMY and a WFMY-uploaded video on YouTube report the sheriff saying the jail was “completely full without holding one ICE inmate” and that the facility at the time held “more than 300 local and state inmates. Not one of them is an ICE detainee,” per the video caption. NC Local reported Johnson saying the jail had been “seriously stretched for space” and had “hit a breaking point,” adding his claim that “sometimes 76 folks [were] having to sleep on the floor” even when no ICE detainees were present; NC Local filed a public records request to verify that number that had not been returned before their publication. The Alamance News quoted Johnson: “I simply cannot take on ICE prisoners without more space.”

Ending the long-standing housing arrangement with ICE carries a fiscal hit for county finances. NC Local estimated the loss at about $2 million in annual income, while The Alamance News put the figure at roughly $1.9 million, reporting the county will forfeit that contract revenue after pulling out of the U.S. Bureau of Immigration Enforcement lease that had allowed ICE to lease jail space.

Despite terminating the formal contract, local reporting says limited cooperation with ICE will continue in certain circumstances. NC Local states county jails may still hold some people for up to 48 hours after scheduled release to allow ICE pickup, and that HB 307 requires law enforcement and jail operators to cooperate with ICE for people charged with serious crimes when citizenship cannot be confirmed.

Johnson also described negotiations with ICE that stalled over facility expansion. WFMY and the YouTube video report he told ICE the federal agency expressed interest in a new contract and asked for more slots, but that ICE would not fund expansion up front, leaving the county and ICE “at a stalemate.” WFMY’s account says the sheriff concluded the county would need to expand before it could again hold federal detainees.

Local accounts differ on timing and legislative details. ABC11 and WFMY report December 1 as a key effective date for HB 307 provisions, Alamance News cites General Assembly ratification on September 23, and NC Local described the law as having gone into effect “in December of last year.” Those discrepancies underscore outstanding questions about which statutory provisions took effect when and which operational requirements specifically prompted the ACSO decision.

Sheriff Johnson framed the termination as a resource and public-safety decision for Alamance County, prioritizing local and state inmates amid new state mandates and capacity limits while the county absorbs the reported $1.9–$2.0 million annual revenue loss.