Gov. McCrory: We Won't Segment People by Race

North Carolina GOP Gov. Pat McCrory is under fire for eliminating the state’s Office of Hispanic/Latino affairs.

“The message from Raleigh is that Latinos in North Carolina don’t matter,” Jess George, executive director of the Latin American Coalition, told the Charlotte Observer.

“Despite movement with the Republican Party at the national level towards more bipartisan solutions around comprehensive immigration reform, North Carolina conservatives don’t seem to have gotten the same memo.”

McCrory spokesman Thomas Stith told the newspaper the duties of the office were being folded into the office of community and constituent affairs.

“We don’t segment our constituents by race or cultural background any more than we separate them by age or gender,’’ he said.

The closing, which reportedly occurred without warning, is McCrory’s second skirmish with the Latino community since he was elected to the Tar Heel State’s top position in the fall.

Latinos were infuriated when McCrory approved a plan to issue pink-striped licenses for young immigrants living in the country illegally, but granted federal protection from deportation, the Observer reported.

That plan was eventually ditched.