Wake Co. sanctuary stats | Illegal charged in Lee Co. kidnap, rape of 14-year-old | Swim league affirms biological gender categories
No. 119 — Apr. 6-Apr. 12, 2025
Wake Co. among top sanctuary jurisdictions for releasing alien detainees
The Wake County Sheriff's Office ranks #18 nationwide in the number of deportable aliens released into the public, according to ICE records obtained by the Center for Immigration Studies.
CIS found that the WCSO either declined immigration detainers or provided insufficient notice to ICE for 219 illegal aliens detained in the county between October 1, 2022 and February 6, 2025, nearly half of the 508 total reported for state of North Carolina, which ranks #8 in the analysis.
Wake County began operating as a sanctuary jurisdiction in 2018, when Gerald Baker successfully ran for sheriff on a platform of not cooperating ICE.
The Republican supermajority passed House Bill 10 in 2024 over the governor's veto to eliminate such sanctuary counties in the state by requiring cooperation with ICE detainer.
However, there has been subsequent dispute between the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office and ICE over notification, resulting in the release of 163 illegal aliens since the law went into effect in December. Sheriff Garry McFadden claims that his department is honoring the detainers, and puts the blame on ICE for failing to pick up the aliens prior to release, while ICE claims that McFadden is failing to provide notice of when the release is scheduled to occur.
In response, House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell, Watauga) has filed House Bill 318, which would require agencies to provide the 48-hour notice prior to release that ICE is seeking, but Republicans no longer possess the supermajority in the 2025-2026 session necessary to override Gov. Stein's presumed veto of any such legislation without Democrat help.
Illegal alien charged with rape, kidnapping 14-year-old girl from Lee County middle school
Lee County man charged with rape, kidnapping after 14-year-old didn't come home from school - WRAL
Victor Alfonso Villalba Bustamante, 41, has been charged with kidnapping and raping a 14-year-old girl whom he picked up from East Lee Middle School, according to the Lee County Sheriff's Office.
Bustamante with found with his victim in a Sanford hotel, where he was arrested and charged with
two counts of statutory rape
abduction of a child
felony conspiracy to commit abduction
second-degree kidnapping
solicitation of a minor by computer
Investigation revealed that Bustamante is not in the country legally, and he will be held on a federal immigration detainer in addition to being held in Lee County jail on a $3 million bond. Based on court records, Bustamante appears to have been in the Lee County area for at least two decades.
Bustamante's arrest is eerily parallel to a case in Chatham County about a month earlier, in which two illegal aliens from El Salvador and Venezuela were charged with abduction and sexual offenses related to a 15-year-old girl from Siler City who was missing for a week before police discovered her with one of the pair in Asheboro.
Local swim league voted against allowing transgenders to compete against opposite sex
Triangle’s largest swim league bans transgender youths; 1 team quits in protest - N&O
The nearly 90 swim clubs in Wake County making up the Tarheel Swimming Association voted earlier this year against allowing transgender-identifying competitors to swim against members of the opposite sex by a vote of 43-25, with 19 teams abstaining.
In response, one team sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Raleigh-Cary withdrew from the league, citing a conflict with the organization's "values of inclusivity."
Transgender-identifying swimmers are still allowed to participate, but may not choose which gender division to compete in based on their "gender identity."
As one parent is quoted by the News & Observer, "The league has always separated swimmers into competition categories by age and by gender — meaning sex — to ensure fairness for all participants...We simply voted to uphold these rules, as opposed to adopting a new definition of gender, in order to maintain the firm boundaries that protect all swimmers in the league."
Wake Co. "environmental" magnet schools win DEI "merit" award
2 Wake schools with environment and climate focus named top US magnet schools - N&O
Two magnet schools receive top national awards - Press Release
The two magnet schools in the Wake County Public School System with a theme of "Environmental Connections" won so-called "merit" awards at the Magnet School of America's national conference, with Millbrook Elementary School in Raleigh being awarded the Donald R. Waldrip Magnet School of Excellence Award and Lincoln Heights Elementary School in Fuquay-Varina receiving the Elementary Magnet School Merit Award of Excellence.
However, a review of the MSA website reveals the ideological taint involved in the organization's "Magnet School Merit Awards Program," with recognition being given to an "exemplary commitment" to "desegregation/diversity efforts," which is placed on par with "academic standards."
Wake School Board votes to let schools apply for LGBTQ+ grant
Wake assures protections after dropping Biden Title IX rules for LGBTQ+ students - N&O
At Tuesday's board meeting, the Wake County Board of Education voted 7-2 on party line to allow schools to apply for grants by "It Gets Better," an organization which distributes money to middle and high schools in US and Canada to "uplift and empower LGBTQ+ students."
According to Republican board member Cheryl Caulfield, who voted against the grant, It Gets Better promotes drag and gender dysphoria: "I cannot consent to approving a grant that is putting even more sexual content and gender ideologies in our schools."
