Civil rights groups protest North Carolina bills targeting undocumented immigrants

Yahoo

21-05-2025

Maria Fernanda Najera-Aguilar, an organizer with El Pueblo, said she prays for the safety of her family and friends each day amid a crackdown by immigration authorities. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar / NC Newsline)
Immigrant rights advocates called on a crowd of about 100 to stand up against bills targeting undocumented immigrants in the state as part of an Immigrant Rights Advocacy Day demonstration outside the North Carolina General Assembly Wednesday.
Speakers from the ACLU of North Carolina, the Education Justice Alliance, the Carolina Migrant Network, Muslim Women For, and El Pueblo rallied on the lawn of the Legislative Building and denounced a set of four bills as part of a broader anti-immigrant agenda by lawmakers. After the demonstration, they split up into groups to talk to legislators and leave informational materials with their offices and marched to the Governor's Mansion to deliver a petition demanding the veto of the bills.
The four bills seek to crack down on undocumented immigrants in a variety of ways: House Bill 318 requires sheriffs cooperate with ICE; Senate Bill 153 does the same for state law enforcement; House Bill 261 increases the felony level of criminal charges against defendants with past immigration-related offenses; and House Bill 690 requires state agencies and universities to vet the immigration status of benefit recipients.
Fernando Martinez, an organizing director with the Education Justice Alliance, urged lawmakers to 'stop playing politics with our families.' He denounced North Carolina politicians for 'painting us as criminals' who are 'invading this country' and stressed that immigrants are neighbors, colleagues, and classmates who make up a fundamental part of the community.
'We go to prayer houses together. We serve and produce food. We are teachers, we are nurses, we are building this state — literally,' Martinez said. 'Immigrants belong here, [we] are North Carolinians — and stop pushing us out.'
America Juarez, a coordinator for the Carolina Migrant Network, said families in Charlotte are living in fear of ICE, alleging that agents in unmarked vehicles have been detaining employees at their places of work and children at school in an expansive operation that began May 12. She said her organization has received more than 133 calls for help in just over a week, and warned that provisions in the bills expanding cooperation with ICE would only worsen this crackdown.
'When federal agents in unmarked vehicles and civilian abduct members in our community, our neighbors, our coworkers, our families, it does not make North Carolina safer, it makes us all less safe,' Juarez said. 'For our elected officials, your silence is complicit. Will you stand by as children in your district lose their parents?'
Nora Khalifa, an organizer with Muslim Women For, said such 'intimidation tactics' have had a tangible impact on her community. She said she's noticed people who no longer come to worship services out of fear that they might be detained by ICE and has heard from people who avoid public spaces as much as possible for the same reason.
Closing the demonstration, Maria Fernanda Najera-Aguilar of El Pueblo said she prays for the safety of her family and friends every day amid the ongoing mass detention of immigrants, and in particular, last year's House Bill 10, which required sheriffs to follow ICE detention orders. She urged lawmakers to take a stand for 'basic human rights.'
'How can we pursue happiness and achieve aspirations when peace and security are constantly under threat?' she asked. 'I stand here today not just to speak, but to remind you that we are watching, we are organizing, and we are not going anywhere.'