Another large-scale immigration enforcement operation appears to be underway in North Carolina, focusing on the Research Triangle and Triad area, according to immigrant advocacy group Siembra NC.
In a statement Friday, Siembra NC said they received reports of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Morrisville, Apex, Durham, Greensboro, Charlotte and other locations this week. Some carried rifles and wore vests labeled “HSI Police” (Homeland Security Investigations is the investigative arm of ICE), while others wore masks and approached people in parked cars or pursued them on the road.
NC Newsline has not independently confirmed these reports.
Citing an unnamed source within the Department of Homeland Security, Siembra NC co-director Nikki Marín Baena said the group believes a monthlong ICE operation is underway in North Carolina involving at least 50 agents from other states. She said it’s the largest statewide operation in many years.
A spokesperson for ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement earlier this week that she could not confirm any ICE activities. “Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country. We do not discuss future or potential operations.”
The apparent ramp-up comes after heightened Border Patrol operations in November in Raleigh and Charlotte drew protests and led to the detention of some U.S. citizens. “Operation Charlotte’s Web” resulted in more than 425 arrests, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
“Even as workplaces, schools, and communities are still reeling from the devastating impacts of Border Patrol’s operation in November, this new monthlong operation by ICE is threatening a new wave of school absences, economic turmoil, and families ripped apart just a few weeks before the holidays,” Marín Baena said.
Ojo Obrero, an ICE activity tracker launched by Siembra NC in November, shows 10 reports in North Carolina in the past week, centered around the Research Triangle, the Piedmont Triad, and the Charlotte metropolitan area.
In Durham, at least three individuals were arrested on Dec. 4 and Dec. 5 on their way to interviews with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Siembra NC alleged, including a permanent resident set to interview to become a citizen and two mothers arriving for green card interviews.
The activist group laid the blame for the operations on North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall, quoting his comments last week that “ICE and CBP are doing a great job. We don’t have much to say to them except we just ask that they come back.”
Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but in a social media post on Tuesday, condemned Siembra NC’s promotion of a “Destin Hall Pass” to stay home from work to avoid ICE.
“Looks like a far-left, pro-illegal group is now giving out a ‘Destin Hall Pass’ to help people skip work when ICE is in NC,” Hall wrote. “I’ve never seen a group of people so committed to breaking the law instead of keeping the public safe. Insanity.”
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