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An expired registration, a broken taillight or overly tinted windows. For thousands of Latino drivers in North Carolina, these stops for minor infractions can open the door to searches, arrests and immigration consequences.
Although the overall number of traffic stops in the state dropped after the COVID-19 pandemic and has yet to return to 2019 levels, the story is different for one group in particular: Hispanics.
The rise in vehicle stops involving Hispanic drivers is especially noticeable in those related to minor violations, categorized as regulatory or equipment-related.
Between 2019 and 2024, regulatory stops increased by 70% among Latino drivers, according to state data analyzed by Enlace Latino NC. In contrast, these types of stops declined among white drivers and rose slightly among Black drivers.
Experts warn that these regulatory stops, while legal, are often used as a pretext to investigate crimes such as drug possession or immigration status.
Although searches and arrests of Hispanic individuals have also increased during this period, findings of contraband are lower compared to their white and Black counterparts.
Advocates for immigrant rights fear that new legislative proposals, such as Senate Bill 153, mandating cooperation between local agencies and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), could increase the risk of racial profiling.
Population growth does not account for disparities
The Hispanic population has been the fastest-growing demographic group in North Carolina.
Between 2019 and 2023—the most recent year with official Census estimates—the Hispanic population in North Carolina grew by 21%, rising from 1,024,389 to 1,237,081 people. Hispanics now make up 11.4% of the state’s total population.
However, traffic stops of Latino drivers increased by 32.1% from 2019 to 2023, a rate that outpaces population growth. This gap suggests that the rise in vehicle stops cannot be explained solely by demographic growth.
In comparison, between 2019 and 2023, the share of white residents in the state declined from approximately 70% to 61% of the total population. During the same period, traffic stops of white individuals fell by 18.7%.
Black residents, whose population grew slightly by 2% from 2019 to 2023, saw a a 0.9% increase in traffic stops over that time.
Although traffic stops involving Black motorists increased slightly, they account for 37% of all stops, between 2019 and 2023, making them the most likely group to be pulled over. Hispanic drivers are the second most likely group to be pulled over during that period, when adjusting for population size.
An intensifying trend in 2024
Far from reversing, the trend intensified in 2024. Between 2019 and 2024, traffic stops involving Hispanic drivers steadily increased, including those related to safety and regulations.
When considering all types of infractions, traffic stops of Hispanic drivers rose by 48% between 2019 and 2024, the largest increase among all ethnic groups in the state during that period. This surge contrasts with declines in vehicle stops for white and Black motorists.
This increase in vehicle detentions is reflected across all types of traffic stops for Hispanic drivers from 2019 to 2024, though it is most pronounced in regulatory stops.
Minor infractions as a “pretext”
Frank Baumgartner, a political science professor at the University of North Carolina, has studied traffic stops in the state for years. In 2011, he was the first, along with his two graduate students, to systematically analyze the data North Carolina had been collecting since 1999, but which had not been evaluated until then.
His findings revealed a troubling pattern: stops for minor technical violations are especially prone to racial profiling. Initially, Baumgartner observed this pattern most clearly among Black drivers. But as the Hispanic population has grown, he said, similar profiling is increasingly affecting Latino drivers as well.
“The profile for the Hispanic driver is that there’s both the criminal profile, which is identical to the Black drivers, but there’s also an immigration angle… you could be a grandmother, but they want to know if you have papers,” Baumgartner told Enlace Latino NC.
Although not every regulatory stop is used for further investigation, research shows these minor infractions often serve as a pretext to probe for more serious offenses, such as drug possession or immigration status. These are known as pretextual stops.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the legality of pretextual stops in the 1996 case Whren v. United States, ruling that they are constitutional as long as there is an objective reason for the stop, regardless of the officer’s intent.
But legality doesn’t eliminate risk. Other studies back Baumgartner’s conclusions: pretextual stops disproportionately affect minority communities and redirect police attention from serious dangers like drunk or reckless driving.
For many young people in marginalized communities, a stop for something as simple as an expired tag can escalate in minutes.
Hispanics under scrutiny in traffic stops
After a vehicle stop, searches follow. In North Carolina, not only have traffic stops of Hispanic drivers increased, but vehicle searches have also risen.
Between 2019 and 2024, searches of Latino drivers vehicles rose by 30%, from 2,825 to 3,678. During the same period, searches of white drivers dropped by 26%, while searches of Black drivers declined slightly by 7%.
Officers are legally required to have probable cause, a warrant, or a driver’s consent to conduct a vehicle search. But in practice, advocates say Latino drivers are often profiled to establish probable cause. Others feel pressured to consent, driven by fear or a lack of awareness of their rights.
More than 60% of searches involving Hispanic drivers during 2019 until 2024 were justified by probable cause—a rate second only to that of Black drivers during 2019 to 2024. The second most common reason during this period was consent, accounting for 19% of searches.
Despite more vehicle searches, the rate of finding contraband in Hispanic drivers’ cars is practically identical to that of white drivers. In 2023, for example, Hispanic drivers were searched 16.3% more than white drivers in proportion to the number of stops, but both groups had the exact same contraband hit rate: 44.6%.
Arrests rise as deportation fears grow
Arrests during traffic stops have mirrored broader disparities. Between 2019 and 2024, arrests of Hispanic drivers rose by 82%. Arrests of white drivers fell 12%, while arrests of Black drivers increased by 5%.
In 2024, 48% of all traffic stops leading to arrest were among Black motorists and 16% were among Hispanic motorists, while those groups comprised roughly 20% and 11.5% of the overall state population, respectively.
Legal experts warn these encounters can escalate quickly, especially for undocumented individuals. North Carolina is home to an estimated 314,000 undocumented residents, according to the American Immigration Council. Most are Latino.
With the federal government tightening its stance on undocumented immigration, traffic stops can become a convenient enforcement tool. This is especially true in states like North Carolina, where undocumented immigrants can’t get driver’s licenses. In contrast, nine states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, do allow them.
“Driving with a revoked license is a criminal offense that can lead to arrest,” Yesenia Polanco, immigration and criminal defense attorney, told Enlace Latino NC. “If someone is driving without any identification or documentation, the officer can arrest them simply to verify their identity.”
Polanco urges her clients to protect themselves by staying silent, refusing consent to searches, and contacting a lawyer immediately if detained.
“The greatest right is to remain silent, and the biggest mistake is giving consent,” said the attorney. Based on her experience, many people share too much information or allow searches without understanding the consequences.
New bills heighten profiling concerns
In North Carolina, 21 counties currently participate in the 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement to collaborate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to identify and detain individuals eligible for deportation.
That reach could soon expand. Senate Bill 153 proposes requiring state agencies such as the North Carolina Department of Public Safety and the State Highway Patrol to enter 287(g) agreements, effectively delegating immigration enforcement duties to state officers.
Republican legislators who sponsor this proposal said it is a state effort to support President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans. Civil rights advocates argue that such legislation institutionalizes racial profiling and undermines trust between immigrant communities and law enforcement.
During a legislative debate, Rep. María Cervania, a Democrat from Wake County, shared a personal story. While traveling in Arizona, she was pulled over by a sheriff’s deputy who repeatedly questioned her citizenship, even after she explained she was born in Oakland, California.
“I was treated like a criminal. Dressed in my Sunday best, I was made to wait three hours by the side of the road. I was interrogated, threatened with detention, and humiliated. No cause, no crime, and ultimately, no apology,” Cervania told her colleagues.
She believes North Carolina, through SB 153 and other immigration related bills, is heading in a dangerous direction.
“We are living in a state where, instead of promoting cultural competence in law enforcement, it’s becoming illegal even to provide diversity training,” Cervania told Enlace Latino NC. “The lack of legal clarity opens the door for personal bias to drive police conduct.”
Data abounds, but change lags behind
More than 36 million traffic stop records have been logged since 1999 through the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) portal. But legal experts say the data has had little impact on transforming police practices.
“It’s almost like Groundhog Day,” said Jake Sussman, lead attorney at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, a Durham-based nonprofit organization. “There’s a report in 2010, or 2012, or 2016, or 2020, or 2022 about racial disparities. Then they ask the chief of police for comment, and there’s some expression of curiosity—perhaps even concern—but we don’t see any actual, tangible policy response.”
The coalition runs Open Data Policing NC, a platform that allows the public to analyze decades of stop data. According to Sussman, the numbers consistently show drivers of color are disproportionately stopped and searched.
Despite these findings, the state has implemented few meaningful reforms.
State response: slow and unclear
In 2020, after George Floyd’s murder and national calls for reform, North Carolina formed the Task Force for Racial Equity. Co-chaired by then-Attorney General Josh Stein—now governor—the group proposed a series of measures aimed at curbing bias in traffic stops and improving police training.
The North Carolina Department of Public Safety now oversees that task force. However, the agency did not confirm to Enlace Latino NC whether it uses the data to evaluate policing or has put the task force’s proposals into action. They said that the SBI is responsible for collecting and maintaining the records.
The State Highway Patrol, one of the most visible law enforcement agencies in North Carolina, told Enlace Latino NC it had received no substantial complaints of racial bias in 2024. When asked about disparities, the agency cited internal policies barring discrimination based on race, gender, or socioeconomic status, and affirmed that all stops must comply with state law and department guidelines.
Still, legal advocates argue that policy has not caught up with the data, largely because there is no legal obligation to act on it.
“We don’t have legislation that says, quarterly or annually, agencies must examine the data… and if they see disparities, they should investigate and try to remedy them,” Sussman said.
Local reforms: A step toward change?
While the state has not enacted major reforms, some counties have taken local action.
In 2013, the then-chief of the Fayetteville Police Department, Harold Medlock, implemented a policy that deprioritized stops for minor infractions. Instead, officers focused on more dangerous violations such as speeding or reckless driving. A study found that between 2013 and 2016, that shift reduced racial disparities in traffic stops.
In 2022, the non-profit organization Forward Justice presented an analysis to Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden revealing that Black drivers were stopped at significantly higher rates than white drivers. In response, the county adopted a policy limiting regulatory stops to cases where there is a prior serious violation.
Between 2022 and 2024, the percentage of traffic stops involving Black individuals, relative to the total stops that year, dropped from 50% to 44.4%. Meanwhile, the share of stops involving white individuals increased slightly, from 31% to 32.1%. Traffic stops involving Hispanic drivers rose from 14.1% to 17.1%, suggesting a growing overrepresentation relative to previous years.
Other county-level reforms have included requiring written consent—in both English and Spanish—before conducting a vehicle search, which has led to a reduction in searches, Sussman said. Additionally, some local prosecutors have begun dismissing cases for driving without a license, a charge that disproportionately affects undocumented individuals.
Advocates like Whitley Carpenter, senior criminal justice counsel and policy manager at Forward Justice, see these local changes as a foundation.
“When we see success at the local level, it shows others this can work. The world’s not ending, our communities remain safe, and racial disparities are going down,” Carpenter told Enlace Latino NC. ”My hope is that, by getting more departments on board and showing that positive impact, we’ll see broader change.”
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