Calls grow for elected leaders to denounce ICE activity and for greater protections for immigrant families.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Advocacy groups and families across Charlotte are speaking out after a recent spike in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity that they say has terrorized immigrant communities and led to family separations.
According to the Carolina Migrant Network (CMN), the organization has received more than 130 calls to its ICE hotline reporting sightings and detentions. Reports have poured in from Charlotte, Kannapolis, Concord, and Monroe. Raids and arrests have allegedly occurred during traffic stops, outside homes, and even near schools.
“What is currently happening is family separation,” Stefania Arteaga with the Carolina Migrant Network said. “It is an attack on every Charlottean.”
At a press conference held Monday in east Charlotte, CMN and impacted families condemned what they described as “indiscriminate and discriminatory” enforcement tactics, demanding that local leaders speak out against ICE operations and offer protection to immigrant families.
Among those directly affected is Joanna Martinez, whose father, Jose Martinez, was detained by ICE on Wednesday, May 14.
“My father, Jose Martinez, was detained on his way to work on Wednesday, May 14, after being stopped on Central Avenue,” Martinez said.
She said her father, a husband and father of 11, had worked hard to support their family.
“Despite countless challenges, my father worked tirelessly to build his own business and provide for our family,” she said.
After his detention, Joanna said the family struggled to track him down. Eventually, she learned he was transferred to Stewart Detention Center in Georgia. She drove six hours to see him.
“The days and hours following were agonizing… we desperately tried to navigate a broken and unresponsive immigration system designed to making finding a loved one nearly impossible,” Martinez said. “For the first time in my life, I saw my father cry… the man who had always been our provider, our rock, was reduced to tears, and it shattered our hearts.”
Martinez joined CMN and others in calling for elected officials to publicly denounce the detentions.
“ICE operations are acts of violence… we call out elected officials to denounce these actions and protect immigrant families,” she said.
Concerns raised over arrests near schools
CMN also shared reports of ICE activity near school zones, including an incident at Charlotte East Language Academy.
“It was witnessed by many students, families, it was sudden and public and deeply disruptive, and families were scared to drop off,” a representative from Charlotte East Language Academy’s PTA said.
Arteaga said in many cases, people detained in Charlotte are held temporarily and then transferred out of state.
“What we are noticing is that people are held temp here in Charlotte,” she said. “They are either sent to Alamance County… and then within a day or two they are sent to the Stewart Douglas Detention Center in Georgia.”
Arteaga added that the tactics used by ICE, such as unmarked vehicles and undercover agents, have created an environment of fear.
“It impacts everyone when we don’t feel safe when we have unmarked vehicles with undercover agents who do not say who they are is stopping our neighbors,” she said.
Local faith leaders also voiced concern about the emotional toll these operations are taking on children and families.
“How does it protect our communities when parents are taken from their family in front of the eyes of their children? How does it serve community when everyday folks are worried to go to the grocery store, get gas or do everyday things?” Rev. Amanda Whiterspoon of the Unitarian Universalist Community of Charlotte said.
Advocates are now urging Charlotte’s elected officials to take a public stance, and they are calling on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board to send clear immigration rights resources to all CMS families.
“We need leaders to protect our immigrant communities and stand in solidarity,” Arteaga said.
WCNC Charlotte has reached out to ICE for further comment and has not received a response as of publication.
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