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More ICE Agents, More Flights — Just Days After Destin Hall’s Invitation

Last Thursday, Speaker Destin Hall told a reporter “ICE and CBP have a difficult job… we just ask that they come back.” We didn’t know he meant Thanksgiving week. 

We believe reports we have received in the last two days indicating that 

  1. ICE has reserved daily charter flights between CLT to JAX for this coming week (12/2-12/6) just like they did during the CBP operation 
  2. ICE is deploying fifty agents to the Raleigh area on 12/1 for a planned month-long operation 

We know that may cause alarm, and we hope they will change their plans before they are put in motion, but we do not have information that suggests ICE is planning the same kinds of arrests as those conducted by CBP last week. 

We do not know what they are planning – or whether they are only planning operations in the Triangle – but we do know these eight are the kinds of arrests that ICE generally uses to make it impossible to get to school and work safely.

Here are the most common enforcement actions by ICE in our state this year: 

  1. Traffic stops: These occur most often in the early mornings, when ICE agents pull over specific drivers. Sometimes they are looking for someone they believe is driving, other times the arrests appear less targeted, and more geared towards “vehicles that might be used by immigrant workers.” These are concentrated in Charlotte, but we have also documented them in the Triad and Triangle this year. 
  2. Jail arrests: Due to Speaker Destin Hall’s championing of HB 10 and HB 318 –  bills that nullified any sheriff’s ability to ignore an ICE detainer request – many more people than ever are taken into ICE custody after being charged (not convicted) and booked into a local jail by local law enforcement. 
  3. Probation arrests: ICE agents are sometimes tipped off by probation agents about the completion of judicially mandated probation sentences. 
  4. Immigration court arrests: ICE makes arrests with some frequency (we aren’t sure exactly how often) at Charlotte Immigration Court at 5701 Executive Center Drive 
  5. Courthouse arrests: We’ve confirmed at least three courthouse arrests and several other attempted arrests this year, often for first appearances. (We believe all are significant undercounts.)
  6. Workplace arrests: In addition to the large operation in Kings Mountain, NC in July, we’ve confirmed at least four other workplace arrests this year.
  7. Local law enforcement partnership: In early November, we recorded the first-ever partnership between ICE and a local law enforcement agency. The Newton Grove Police Department pulled over at least a dozen drivers over four days for alleged traffic infractions, with ICE agents arriving within minutes. These operations are now common in states like Florida and Tennessee.  
  8. Citizenship & Immigration Services arrests: Although it has been less common in NC this year than some other states, it is possible for ICE to make arrests at routine CIS appointments in Charlotte (201 Regency Executive Park Drive) and Durham (301 Roycroft Drive).  

We have never seen ICE do what CBP did last week: conduct indiscriminate arrests of people walking outside who might be born outside the US in North Carolina or from any east coast ICE field office – racial profiling “snatch and grabs.” This week, activists in Los Angeles reported that for the first time the ICE Los Angeles field office had begun using that tactic. That doesn’t mean ICE will begin using it here. We also have no guarantee they will not. 

They may simply expand beyond the dozens of families they break apart every week – targeting hundreds more, like the 24-year-old father of a Thomasville first grader, whose family called our hotline last week. He was arrested by a State Trooper on I-85 for speeding and reckless driving and taken to the Randolph County jail where he was handed over to ICE before even receiving a court appearance. 

Speaker Destin Hall Wants to Massive Disruption to Score “Culture War” Points at North Carolinians’ Expense

None of us got to weigh in on whether we wanted masked federal agents flooding our cities, smashing car windows, hospitalizing several US citizens, and abducting parents while they shopped for groceries. Hundreds of businesses closed or dramatically reduced their operations. Tens of thousands went without paychecks for some amount of time. As of today, we know of people that are still avoiding places they work, shop and worship, even though they know the CBP agents have departed. 

And why? Destin Hall claims that CBP came to town  because, years ago, big city sheriffs declined to unconstitutionally hand people over to ICE without a judicial order – a clear violation of the 4th Amendment. Yet, it was Destin Hall himself who championed HB 10 and HB 318, translating them into law, which has nullified any sheriff’s ability to ignore an ICE detainer request. Yet, oddly, he avoids mentioning those bills when talking to reporters. 

The more likely reason Destin Hall is cheering on CBP’s invasion of North Carolina is he wants to score “culture war” points with MAGA Republicans – much as Gov. Pat McCrory did when he championed HB2, which led to a national economic boycott of our state.   

Fear is Not a Crime: A Call to Speaker Hall’s Campaign Donors 

Speaker Hall took it one step further. He suggested in the same interview that anyone fearing being stopped, questioned, and detained by CBP was a criminal. 

But, everyone reading this likely knows a naturalized U.S. citizen or Green Card holder in the Tar Heel State who – just last week – started carrying her passport to go grocery shopping. There were over 50,000 additional school absences in Mecklenburg and Wake alone as CBP operations unfolded. Even Burke County schools reported double the usual number of absences as detentions occurred in nearby Lenoir and Hickory. The learning loss and emotional toll of children who spent multiple days wondering whether their parents would be home at the end of the day are likely still disrupting classrooms across the state. In Speaker Hall’s hometown, Caldwell County Public Schools likely experienced similar impacts, with 15% Latino student enrollment.

Speaker Hall is conflating genuine fear with criminality. If last week’s events showed us anything, however, it is that the vast majority of North Carolinians do not want immigrants hiding from work, school, or worship. We do not want our neighbors terrorized; we do not want our economy crippled with closed stores and abandoned construction sites; we do not want our schools and daycares upended by families being targeted while dropping children off.

Speaker Hall has made it clear he thinks 370 North Carolinians detained on their way to school, work and worship was a “great job.” And apparently, it wasn’t good enough, so he’s asked ICE to send more agents. If he wants to make it impossible for some of us to work in “the best state for business,” we think it’s appropriate for him to get the credit he deserves. 

As ICE sends a new force to Raleigh, we need to keep making our voices heard: After 14 years of near-absolute control over North Carolina’s laws, the NC Republican Party has shown that the language it respects and the voices they most most listen to is their campaign contributors — and that is how we can make them hear this reality. That is who we can impact to ensure that the NC Republican Party knows that no North Carolinian is supportive of these reckless, horrific actions.

Here are the actions we need you to take action this week:

  1. With your kids and community: write letters and send cards to Speaker Hall’s top campaign contributors specifically explaining why children and their parents should not have to live in fear. You can also bring 5 friends together for a kitchen table conversation about Destin Hall and what he’s doing, and take action by writing letters and making cards together.  Here’s a simple toolkit with the information on who to send them to and how to do it.
  2. With your workplace:
    1. If you’re a business owner that has to close down because employees are sheltering in place, or you’re a construction foremen whose job sites sit empty, you can post placards explaining why “Courtesy of Speaker Destin Hall”. 
    2. If you have to miss work because you or your coworkers are sheltering in place, we’re asking you to send a “Destin Hall Pass” to your employer, so they can ask him when you might be able to return.
    3. Posters you can print are in our toolkit.
  3. Join our upcoming call on 12/3 at 7 PM about NC politics and how we’ll build the state we need. Learn more and RSVP here.

If Speaker Hall’s campaign contributors gets hundreds of letters and calls, we know they will tell Speaker Hall the urgency of asking these ICE agents to leave. 

Help make it happen.