Eyes and Ears on the Ground

By the time the report was debunked, the video had been shared and viewed thousands of times on social media.

Officers outfitted in thick, camouflage vests, wearing tactical helmets and carrying guns, scurried around a Lowe’s Home Improvement parking lot in northeast Greensboro on Nov. 18. Onlookers recorded officers detaining at least one person.

The scene caused alarm throughout the community as reports of immigration enforcement officers descending on Charlotte and the Triangle circulated online. People quickly shared the Greensboro footage, and an immigrant advocacy organization included the “raid” on a map of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity as well.

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Office debunked the claim on social media in the evening, taking responsibility for the activity.

“We are aware of a video circulating online of an incident in the parking lot of Lowe’s Home Improvement on East Cone Boulevard earlier today,” the post reads. “The Guilford County Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team (SERT) was responding to an ongoing narcotics-related investigation. Neither ICE nor the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) were involved.”

In the last few weeks, immigrants—documented and undocumented—have been fearful of leaving their homes to go to school, work, or run errands due to the wave of enforcement which began in Charlotte on Nov. 15. That weekend, officers also made arrests in Durham and Raleigh. In total, Customs and Border Patrol agents detained more than 370 people across the state, the department said.

“They didn’t sweep into Greensboro, but the fear sure did,” said Kirstin Cassell, a volunteer with Siembra NC, an immigrant-advocacy organization.

While no one was detained in Greensboro, hundreds of community members have rallied in the last week to become ICE “verifiers.” Those who undergo training will be able to respond to calls and determine if immigration activity is occurring in an area. 

The trainings will hopefully make it easier to sort fact from fiction, Siembra volunteers said. 

“The important thing is peace of mind,” said volunteer Allyson Crickenberger. “It’s for other people to make decisions about going to work, school, grocery shopping.”

Standing Watch

The same day misinformation about the activity at Lowe’s Home Improvement circulated online, Siembra scheduled an ICE watch training for Nov. 21 in Greensboro. Within 24 hours, the training was filled with close to 300 registrants. A second training was added for Nov. 23 at a larger location.

Hundreds of people packed into the nave at First Baptist Church off of Friendly Avenue on Sunday afternoon. One couple wore matching outfits emblazoned with flames.

“To melt ICE,” they said.

About 450 people filled the church by the time the training started. A third training in Winston-Salem had about 140 registrants by Monday.

While Siembra has been conducting these ICE watch trainings since the first Trump administration in 2017, the sessions have become more frequent as immigration enforcement has ramped up across the country this year.

Immigration detention has increased 64% since the beginning of this year, according to data compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a data organization at Syracuse University.

It’s gone up almost 195% since January 2022.

To combat the detentions—many of which have targeted immigrants living in the US legally—Siembra has been working on several initiatives, including creating a network of Fourth Amendment workplaces, an emergency hotline, and ICE watch trainings. In recent weeks, the organization also rolled out a map tracking immigration enforcement activity.

When reports of potential ICE agents at Lowe’s came through on Nov. 18, volunteers at the organization scoured social media and videos to include the incident on Siembra’s new map, Ojo Obrero, meaning “Look out, workers.”

The error was corrected, and the incident was removed from the map shortly afterward. The map wasn’t meant to track reports and debunk them in real time, said Andrew Willis Garcés, a Siembra volunteer. 

“The map was designed for a different time, meaning pre-CBP coming in,” he said. “We had to evaluate over 2,000 separate claims in about a five-day period.”

The hope, Siembra volunteers say, is that the more people who are trained as ICE verifiers, the fewer mistakes like that will happen.

During Sunday’s training, volunteers Hallie Trauger, Cassell, and Crickenberger explained what to look for in terms of ICE activity and how to debunk claims.

Immigration enforcement officers, whether they are with ICE or Border Patrol, will often cover their faces and refuse to show identification when asked. Their cars typically have tinted windows and are American models.

While enforcement can happen any time of day, the organization sees stops most often in the morning, Garcés said, when people are going to work. Other times, agents may stake out a house and detain someone before they get in their car. They have also been seen at courthouses, jails, worksites, and immigration offices.

When things like this happen, anyone can call the emergency hotline that Siembra monitors. If there’s a credible tip, then a dispatcher will send out trained verifiers to the location to confirm or debunk the claim.

Volunteers can get a text anytime and would be asked to drop what they were doing to drive up to 20 miles for verification. Due to the influx of volunteers, verifiers will often be paired with a buddy.

Once they reach the destination, the volunteers are advised to take a deep breath and then calmly approach any agents at the scene. At least one of the verifiers will start recording the interaction while another asks agents questions.

Why are you here? Who do you work for? Can I see your badge or identification?

“If they refuse to show you or to identify who they are, that’s a red flag,” Cassell said.

Often, the agents are dismissive, Cassell said, and can get aggressive.

In a roleplay scenario at the Sunday training, Cassell, acting as the agent, told Crickenberger to leave.

Her tone got defensive, a bit heightened. But Crickenberger held her ground.

“I’m going to stay, and I’m going to record because that’s my right,” Crickenberger said.

It can be tense, but it’s important to stay calm, the trainers said.

“Our role is to be the voice of logic,” Crickenberger said.

Under no circumstances should verifiers interfere with what the agents are doing or become aggressive. The goal is to create a calming atmosphere to keep whoever is being questioned safe. In Spanish, they can tell whoever is being detained not to speak or sign anything.

“No hables,” they said. “No firmes.”

After gathering information, verifiers let the dispatcher know if the activity is related to immigration enforcement. If it is, the dispatcher sends a text alert to community members in the area. If it’s not, they’ll debunk the claim on social media.

They had to do that recently in Randolph County, Garcés said. This past weekend, the hotline got dozens of calls about a vehicle with tinted windows parked on a highway median. The organization dispatched a verifier who went out and confirmed the vehicle belonged to a state wildlife resource officer.

This happens more often than not, according to the volunteers.

Ninety-five percent of the time, when verifiers go out to a scene, it ends up not having anything to do with immigration enforcement, they said. But that’s okay.

“Your role is just as important whether ICE is there or not,” Crickenberger said. 

Just the idea that many volunteers are looking out for their neighbors makes communities safer, Garcés said.

“It’s about being the eyes and ears on the ground,” he said. “Being the crossing guards for a dignified world.”

‘We’ll Be Ready’

At the Sunday training,  Malinda Law, Gin Wall, and Dottie McAdams acted out the roles of immigration officers and Siembra verifiers among themselves. The three, who are members of the Piedmont Raging Grannies, said this was their first ICE watch training.

“I want to be able to support people who are vulnerable,” said Law, who signed up to be a verifier at the end of the training.

McAdams, who has been following Siembra’s work for years, also signed up to be a verifier.

“There are people who are living among us who are scared,” McAdams said. “Kids who are concerned their parents won’t come home. That’s why I’m here.”

While Border Patrol agents have largely left North Carolina, volunteers with Siembra say it’s too soon to take a breath.

On Monday morning, Siembra posted that six people were detained by ICE in Charlotte.

Last week N.C. House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell), told the News & Observer he would welcome Border Patrol back to the state.

But there are already ICE agents in Greensboro, Garcés said. Since the start of this year, four people have been detained in the city, according to Siembra’s map.

It is unclear how local law enforcement is working with ICE. 

On Nov. 21, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement to The Assembly that it is “not involved in any federal immigration operations.” 

In a video posted online, Sheriff Danny Rogers further clarified community concerns.

“We have not been asked to participate, we have not been told where they’re at, we have not been told how they’re operating,” Rogers said. “We are your sheriff’s office. We work here. We live here. We care deeply about our community.”

A recently passed state law, HB318, requires all sheriff’s offices across the state to cooperate with ICE. Under the new law, which took effect in October, undocumented people who have committed certain crimes must be held in local jails for 48 hours past their release date. The law also requires the sheriff’s office to notify ICE before releasing those who are held on detainer.

When questioned about the new law, the sheriff’s office said six people have been transferred into ICE custody from Guilford County jails since the law went into effect.

The Greensboro Police Department does not ask people about their immigration status, according to a press release. The department is also prohibited from making traffic stops to determine someone’s immigration status. 

Conversely, in September, the Supreme Court ruled that federal immigration agents can use racial profiling as grounds for immigration stops.

With all of these factors in play, it will be important to stay vigilant, Garcés said.

“This is the attitude we need to take,” he said. “We need to be asking, ‘What can I do?’ and be trying to organize together so everyone can make it to school and work safely.”

“This isn’t about politics,” said Wall, who lives in Asheboro. “It’s about community.”

Seeing the number of people who signed up over the last week for Siembra’s trainings has heartened her, Cassell said.

“We’re going to have so many more people,” she said. “When they come back, we’ll be ready.”

Part of the way through the training, Cassell asked the group of 400 if they could take a photo. She prompted people to throw their fists in the air and start a chant.

“We got us!” she shouted.

“We got us!” the crowd shouted back.