.
From small farms to national parks, poverty services to food banks, even how local law enforcement interacts with immigration enforcement, President Donald Trump’s efforts to reprioritize federal spending have far-reaching consequences – including in Cherokee County.
Updates come seemingly non-stop from White House and DOGE social media posts and online data reports, making tracking difficult. For example, did DOGE close a social security office in Franklin? Yes, but then no.
DOGE – which stands for Department of Government Efficiency, visit doge.gov – estimates it has so far saved $165 billion, an average of $1,024.84 per taxpayer as of Monday, through a combination of asset sales, contact/lease cancellations and renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings and workforce reductions.
Top agencies affected include the departments of Health & Human Services, Education, Housing & Urban Development, Labor, Agriculture and Interior, along with the Environmental Protection Agency.
Agencies with the least reported savings include the departments of Commerce, Justice, Veterans Affairs, Energy, Transportation, State, Homeland Security and Defense, along with NASA and the National Institutes of Health.
DOGE has broad direct, and indirect, impacts locally as well. For example, DOGE has ordered cuts to:
- U.S. Department of Education, affecting federally funded programs at Cherokee County Schools. Trump wants to close the department of education and shift some of its services on to the states, which would result in relatively small cuts at the national level but increases in taxes or reductions in services at the state level.
- Department of Housing & Urban Development, affecting locally administered HUD programs through Four Square Community Action Inc., which also provides food, shelter and Head Start preschool services in Cherokee County.
- Small Business Administration, which provides low-interest loans to help property owners recover from disasters such as Hurricane Helene.
- Department of the Interior, which includes the National Park Service, which includes Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
- Department of Agriculture, which oversees farming, timber and land use, and includes the National Forest Service, which owns and operates Nantahala National Forest in Cherokee County, where about a third of its territory is owned and managed by the forest service.
- Social Security Administration, the SSA office in Franklin, the closest office in North Carolina to Cherokee County, was closed temporarily.
- Department of Veterans Affairs, with about 10% of its adult population being veterans, Cherokee County has the largest percentage of veteran population in North Carolina among counties that don’t neighbor military bases.
‘Communities at risk’
Federal funding decisions – ranging from federal freezes on grants and contracts to ongoing budget negotiations in the Senate and House – put the well-being of North Carolina families and communities at risk, according to the N.C. Budget & Tax Center.
The center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that documents fiscal and economic conditions in communities to support the work of people, organizations, and government to advance solutions to poverty and pursue racial equity.
According to the center, proposed federal cuts to health care, food assistance, and housing programs would shift costs to North Carolina, either through direct funding obligations of programs like SNAP and Medicaid, or deep cuts to essential services.
“Congress is considering drastic cuts to health care, food assistance, and housing – not to invest in everyday people, but to extend tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy. These tax cuts have failed to improve the lives of those struggling to get ahead and meet their basic needs for food, housing, and good jobs,” said Alexandra Sirota, executive director of the Budget & Tax Center.
Organizations across the state shared their concerns with recent federal freezes and its impact upon communities they serve.
Matt Kneece, policy director with the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, said, “It’s really hard to overstate the impact that the federal funding freezes and recent executive actions have had on food systems in North Carolina. …
“We’re doing our best to stand in the gap, and be the voice of farmers and of small food system businesses to get the money not just that’s due to them for work completed, but also the money that’s going to continue to build the local and regional food systems that we’ll need going forward.”
Kate Hanson, founder and executive director of Meals4Families, said, “We’re absolutely not going to be able to end child hunger or reduce child hunger without these federal programs [like SNAP, WIC, school meals, and tax credits for families]. …
“We’re seeing threats being made across the board to a lot of the programs that put food on the table for families and kids in our state every day.”
Heather Hughes, president of AFGE Local 3509, said, “The intention of the cuts to Social Security and to the staff of Social Security is to break it so that it will not be able to function. …
“We need to be letting our congressmen know that any further cuts are going to destroy Social Security, and we cannot do without Social Security.”
Nicole Price, associate executive director with the N.C. Association of Educators, said, “I think we can all agree that eliminating the Department of Education is not about a building in Washington or rooting out wasteful spending. It’s about direct harms to students in our schools right here in our state.”
Franklin’s SSA office
The DOGE website features a “wall of receipts” listing contract terminations, grant terminations and lease terminations totaling more than 9.5 million square feet across 748 facilities nationally. The lease terminations would supposedly save $660 million in total over the life of the leases.
In North Carolina, 20 such leases are listed, from the mountains to the coast.
Other agencies with North Carolina offices on the list include two Natural Resources Conservation Service offices, two IRS offices, two Farm Service Agency offices – including one in Hendersonville – two Equal Employment Opportunity Commission offices, an EPA office, an Employment Standards Administration office, an FDA office, a U.S. Geological Survey office and a U.S. Small Business Administration office.
Besides Franklin, which officials now say will remain open, additional Social Security Administration offices in Elizabeth City, Greenville and Roanoke Rapids are also listed as subject to lease termination.
Law enforcement
Sheriffs across North Carolina are complying with the law as it pertains to ICE and helping develop new legislation that would further align with ICE demands for information about in-custody illegal immigrants.
Eddie Caldwell, executive vice president and general counsel for the N.C. Sheriffs’ Association, said General Statute 162-62 as amended by House Bill 10 [S.L. 2024-55] effective Dec. 1, 2024, provides certain procedures that must be followed when a person is confined in a county jail, including a requirement that the jail staff attempt to “determine if that prisoner is a legal resident or citizen of the United States.”
If the jail staff is “unable to determine if that prisoner is a legal resident or citizen of the United States,” then the jail staff is required by G.S. 162-62 to follow certain specified procedures.
“It is our understanding and firm belief that all North Carolina sheriffs are fully complying with the legal requirements in G.S. 162-62, and we have seen no information or indication to the contrary,” Caldwell said.
“We acknowledge that Immigration & Customs Enforcement would prefer that sheriffs honor the request of ICE to voluntarily take additional actions beyond those required by state or federal law, including:
“(1) honoring immigration detainers for 48 hours beyond the time that the prisoner would otherwise be released from the jail;
“(2) notifying ICE 48 hours before the prisoner would be released from the jail. Some sheriffs comply with these voluntary requests from ICE and others do not.
“In either case, the sheriffs are fully complying with both state and federal law since the requests from ICE are voluntary and are not required by state or federal law nor by court order.”
House Bill 318, The Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act, is pending in the N.C. General Assembly and, if enacted into law, would require sheriffs and their jail staff to both:
(1) honor immigration detainers for 48 hours beyond the time that the prisoner would otherwise be released from jail;
(2) notify ICE 48 hours before the prisoner would be released from jail.
This would align the state process for dealing with immigration detainers with the process preferred by ICE.
The N.C. Sheriffs’ Association has worked closely with the bill sponsors to ensure that the amendments to G.S. 162-62 have been drafted such that the sheriffs do not anticipate the changes will cause any operational difficulties for the sheriffs nor their operation of the county jails. For these reasons, House Bill 318 is supported by the association.
“While we sincerely value our partnerships with all of our elected officials, we encourage them and all others to refrain from making accusatory statements about any sheriff without first talking with that sheriff, and until becoming fully informed about the actual facts and information available from that sheriff,” Caldwell said.
“Just as we believe that all North Carolina sheriffs are fully complying with the current legal requirements in G.S. 162-62, we are confident that if House Bill 318 is enacted into law all North Carolina sheriffs will fully comply with G.S. 162-62 as amended by House Bill 318. We have all taken an oath to do so, and we will
Agriculture
Demographic shifts, waning interest in farm work and costly regulatory hurdles are making it harder for farmers to find workers, according to a report from right-leaning John Locke Foundation.
“Agriculture is one of North Carolina’s largest industries, and it plays a critical role in our health, economy, and national security,” the foundation said in a release. “As recently as 2016, 90% of food consumed by Americans came from America; however, the U.S. has been running an agricultural trade deficit for the last five years, meaning we are importing more food than we are exporting. A budding trade war stands to compound these issues even further.
“Major barriers to reversing that deficit include the shortage of workers available, the growing costs of maintaining a farm, and the aging population of farmers.”
In studying this issue, the report uncovered three main findings:
- Labor market mismatch: Fewer domestic workers are entering agriculture, driven by urban migration and changing career paths. The report recommends expanding agricultural education programs like FFA and 4-H across private, public, and charter schools to inspire a new generation of farm leaders.
- Regulatory barriers: Complex rules around wages and the H-2A visa program make it difficult and expensive for farmers to hire the help they need. Streamlining these processes and giving farmers more flexibility could make a major difference.
- Technology and innovation: While automation offers promise, adoption remains slow due to high costs and outdated regulations. Opening more opportunities for ag-tech investment and education will be crucial.
The foundation also makes the case for four key solutions to these problems:
- Reforming AEWR and H-2A visa rules to lower costs and ease hiring.
- Strengthening agricultural education across all types of schools.
- Expanding opportunities for agricultural innovation and workforce training.
- Cutting unnecessary state-level regulations that slow progress.
AmeriCorps lawsuit
N.C. Attorney General Jeff Jackson filed suit against the Corporation for National & Community Service (AmeriCorps) for unlawfully terminating congressionally approved grants that fund jobs and critical programs supporting western North Carolina’s recovery from Hurricane Helene.
“These funds – which Congress already appropriated for North Carolina – are creating jobs, cleaning up storm damage and helping families rebuild,” Jackson said. “AmeriCorps must follow the law so that people in western North Carolina can confidently move forward.”
On April 15, AmeriCorps ordered more than 50 full-time volunteers to stop working on Helene recovery in western North Carolina, as part of terminating all of the more than 750 volunteers working nationwide for the National Civilian Community Corps, Jackson said in a release.
On April 25, North Carolina was notified that AmeriCorps would cut off several grant programs funded through the N.C. Commission on Volunteerism & Community Service, including:
- Project MARS (Big Brothers Big Sisters of WNC): employs 45 people who served 18 western North Carolina counties after Hurricane Helene by delivering supplies and meals to homebound and stranded families, distributing food and clothing, assisting shelters and crisis hotlines, and supporting schools as they reopened.
- Project Conserve: employs 25 people who partnered with local organizations in 25 western North Carolina counties after Hurricane Hellene to perform debris removal, tree replanting, storm-system repairs and rain-barrel distribution.
- Project POWER: employs 14 people who assisted more than 10,500 disaster-affected individuals in Buncombe, Henderson, and Madison Counties by coordinating large-scale food donations, setting up distribution sites, conducting wellness checks and managing cleanup efforts.
Jackson and fellow attorneys general allege that AmeriCorps violated the Administrative Procedures Act and U.S. Constitution by not administering grants that Congress has already appropriated. Across North Carolina, eight of 19 AmeriCorps programs are being terminated, cutting 202 jobs. Other terminated programs provide literacy services, community gardens, support for future teachers in rural communities, mental health support for students and food and grocery distribution.
Since Hurricane Helene, the DOJ has worked closely with law enforcement and local partners to protect recovery efforts. Earlier this month, Jackson launched the Safe to Rebuild initiative to guard against scams and fraud. Learn more and find tips for hiring reputable contractors at ncdoj.gov/safetorebuild.
In the lawsuit, Jackson joined the attorneys general of Maryland, Delaware, California, Colorado, Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia and the states of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.