RAIDS BY FEDERAL AGENTS
TRAMATIZE CHARLOTTE,
RALEIGH AND DURHAM
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
In his Nov. 21st letter to U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Gov. Josh Stein asked how long masked federal agents with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) were scheduled to stay in North Carolina, continuing their immigration raids.
Stein also asked how many people have been arrested during the course of those raids in Charlotte, Raleigh, Cary and Durham last week? Where have those arrested in those raids been taken? And what policies are in place to protect children in areas where children are, like playgrounds and schools?
Reportedly, approximately 370 people were arrested by CBP in just Charlotte alone since Saturday, Nov. 15th. The names of only eleven, however, have been released. Gov. Stein requested a complete list of those either arrested or detained, along with details pertaining to each one.
The governor has been among the many Democratic North Carolina elect officials highly critical of the CBP raids.
Republican House Speaker Destin Hall, however, has been the exact opposite.
In an interview with The Raleigh News & Observer, Speaker Hall lauded CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who have come to North Carolina to carry out the mandate of Pres. Donald Trump, saying voters knew what they would be getting when they elected Trump to office in 2024.
“We welcome federal law enforcement officials willing to come here and help us in this state enforce the law,” Hall told the N&O.
Speaker Hall also criticized those NC sheriffs who were elected in recent years who have refused to work with ICE and CBP agents in detaining illegal immigrants suspected of federal crimes. Hall said that it is because of those sheriffs’ refusal to comply with state law, the ICE/CBP agents are now forced to come back to North Carolina to capture alleged “violent criminals” and law breakers in the country illegally.
“It looks like they’re doing a pretty good job at it right now. And so, we don’t have much to ask, other than to come back,” Speaker Hall added, also criticizing Democratic officials like Gov. Stein who have urged citizens to video CBP officers as they made arrests so that there is evidence of their actions and conduct.
Indeed, since their unannounced raids in Charlotte on Nov. 15th, the news of CBP arrests sent chills throughout North Carolina as businesses closed, students did not report to school, and people whose immigration status could be called into question stayed off the streets. Construction sites were abandoned because the CBP raids. Churches were vacant. Thousands of demonstrators from Charlotte, Raleigh, Cary and Durham took to the streets in their respective cities to protest as CBP agents raided there, spreading fear and confusion.
Based on whatever details were being released by the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, only a fraction of the hundreds of suspected “violent criminals” arrested actually had criminal records. And yet, there were reports of masked federal agents, driving up to people in the street, or to vehicles. Or businesses, grabbing people despite demands for those officers to show legal warrants.
In Durham by the end of the week after several people were detained there, hundreds of high school students gathered in downtown, holding signs and chanting for federal officers to leave their city. For the week, it is estimated that at least 30% of Durham Public School students stayed home from classes.
In Raleigh, hundreds of protestors hit the streets and marched to the state Capitol amid reports of businesses closing and employees not reporting to work. Thousands of students also reportedly stayed home, Wake Public School System official confirmed.
In Cary, Mayor Harold Weinbrecht, Jr. sent out a statement to citizens saying, “This is a sad and difficult time in Cary, where more than a quarter of our citizens are from other countries and have chosen to bring their talents, ideas, and hard work to make this community the amazing place it is today.”
“Over the last 24 hours, I have gotten reports of federal agents moving throughout Cary — at homes, schools, hospitals, restaurants, and construction sites. Their activities were neither coordinated with nor conducted by the Cary Police Department…”
And in Charlotte, demonstrators protested in the parking lot of a Home Depot store, reacting to word that the retail chain was allowing ICE/CBP agents to arrest people there.
“They’re inhumane,” protestor Ami-Luise Badger told The NY Times of the masked federal officers.
The issue has proven to be divisive.
In the black community, there are many to feel that Hispanic immigrants are unwanted competitors for jobs, opportunities, and housing. They point to the fact that during the 2024 presidential election, a significant percentage supported the reelection of Trump, agreeing with his harsh border policies to keep other latinos out of the country.
But other black community leaders, like Jovita Lee, program director for the NC Black Alliance, counters that what is happening to Hispanic immigrants should be of concern to the African-American community.
Comparing the masked ICE/CBP raids to the old slave patrols of the past when white men would hunt down runaway slaves from Southern plantations, Ms. Lee told NC Newsline, “This narrative around that it has nothing to do with us, I would disagree with,” Lee said. “The discriminatory practices and the racism that it is rooted in is very reminiscent of what we saw in our own history.”
“Folks are being picked up or identified strictly based on appearance, color of skin, how they may look, how their accent may sound, and that is absolutely rooted in discrimination,” Lee said.
Homeland Security officials say their operations in North Carolina are not over, and that their federal agents will be back.
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NC NAACP DEFENDS
REDISTRICTING LAWSUITS
AGAINST DISMISS MOTION
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
In the aftermath of an all-Republican appointed federal three-judge panel rejecting challenges to the 2023 state and congressional redistricting maps used last year, after hearing arguments over blocking that map for the 2026 midterm elections, the NC NAACP, among other plaintiffs, filed their response last Friday defending their two lawsuits against a motion to dismiss by Republican legislative leaders.
In order to give President Trump a better congressional advantage in the U.S. House, NC Republican legislative leaders redrew the First and Third congressional districts so the First - which Democratic Congressman Don Davis currently represents - would lean more Republican in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections. The NC NAACP, Common Cause NC and other plaintiffs immediately filed suit in federal court to stop that redistricting.
Republican legislative leaders, however, defended the map redistricting as protected partisan gerrymandering.
“Plaintiffs do not bring partisan gerrymandering claims,” NC NAACP attorneys wrote in an effort to leapfrog a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. “Plaintiffs allege that Defendants engaged in gratuitous, retaliatory redistricting to replace the legislature’s own 2023 Congressional Plan for no other reason than to burden voters (including Plaintiffs) for their protected speech, association, and petitioning conduct. By removing Plaintiffs from their congressional districts, Defendants created concrete harm that chills Plaintiffs’ associational and petitioning rights by disrupting their political association and advocacy and blocking final resolution of their pending challenge to Congressional District 1”
But lawyers for GOP legislative leaders retorted that they’ve done nothing wrong.
“Supreme Court precedent is clear ‘that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts,’” the Republican motion to dismiss maintained.
Meanwhile that same federal three-judge panel dismissed most of the plaintiff claims challenging the 2023 state and congressional maps, saying in a 181-page court order that plaintiffs had failed to prove any of their claims in two federal lawsuits.
Those lawsuits charged that the 2023 legislative voting districts illegally weakened black voting strength in Northeastern North Carolina’s historic Black Belt counties.
“After considering all the evidence, we find that Plaintiffs have failed to prove that the North Carolina General Assembly drew state Senate or federal congressional districts with the discriminatory purpose of minimizing or canceling out the voting potential of black North Carolinians,” the federal ruled. “The racial data necessary to execute such a discriminatory purpose was not used in drafting the 2023 Senate or congressional plans. The circumstances surrounding the plans’ enactment and the resulting district configurations and composition are consistent with the General Assembly’s non-racial motivations, which included traditional districting criteria, North Carolina law, and partisan performance.”
“Having considered the entire record, judged the credibility of each witness, and weighed all the evidence, the Court finds that Plaintiffs have failed to prove any of their claims against Defendants regarding the 2023 redistricting,” the three-judge panel ruled.
The order means that the only plaintiffs’ argument left standing involves recent changes made to the First and Third Congressional districts to enable an extra Republican seat in Congress to give Pres. Trump an advantage in 2026.
There was no word at press time as to when the three-judge panel will rule on the First Congressional District redrawn map.
Filing for all candidates running for public office in 2026 begins on December 1st.
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