Notary Concerns in North Carolina
The North Carolina Secretary of State faces impeachment charges after it was revealed that over 300 notaries in the state were non permanent residents.
Representative Chris Millis, a Republican from Pender County, NC held a press conference where he levied charges against Elaine Marshall, the North Carolina Secretary of State. His office poured over 1,700 pages of documents that show that over 320 notaries in the state did not legally reside in the United States.
“If the secretary chooses not to resign, I will proceed with all legislative actions, including a resolution for impeachment,” Millis said.
There is no law that says a notary must be a United States citizen, but the law does say that the person must reside in the United States legally. The issue focuses mainly on people who used DACA status to become notaries. DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which began in 2012, and is a limited immigration program offered by the Department of Homeland Security.
Millis says these same documents show Marshall’s office regularly accepted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) cards as forms of identification which he claims on his website are not valid to prove residency. “A DACA card is a temporary employment authorization to facilitate safe and legitimate employment and income for otherwise undocumented aliens but does not confer legal immigration status.” — Fox News
— Fox News
Elaine Marshall called the claims purely political.
“This is simply a rehashing of the political attack used by my opponent [Republican Michael LaPaglia] in the recent election,” Marshall said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. “The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has authorized the specifically mentioned notaries to work here lawfully. That federally authorized status continues to be unchanged by the new presidential administration.” — WRAL
— WRAL
For his part, Millis has filed a new bill in North Carolina that would require all notaries to be United States citizens.
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