Wives of NC men detained by ICE speak out against ‘Border Protection Act'

Yahoo

05-03-2025

Families of North Carolinian men detained by ICE visit the state Legislative Building on March 5, 2025. (Christine Zhu/NC Newsline)
Women living in Winston-Salem whose husbands were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement visited the state Legislative Building in Raleigh on Wednesday to share their stories with lawmakers.
The visit comes a day after the state Senate approved and sent to the House a bill dubbed the North Carolina 'Border Protection Act.' The legislation would require state agencies like the Department of Public Safety and Highway Patrol to enter agreements with ICE to assist with immigration enforcement.
Immigrant rights advocacy groups like Siembra NC, which organized Wednesday's meeting between the Winston-Salem residents and members of the House Progressive Caucus, refer to the legislation as the 'Family Separation Act.'
'We care about you, your family, your loved ones, and we will do everything we can,' Rep. Deb Butler (D-New Hanover) told the women and their children.
Cynthia, 34, said in Spanish that her husband Juan Rosa Meza and four other men were heading home from a residential construction job in Sarasota, Florida when they were stopped by Florida Highway Patrol.
Officers told the men they were stopped because they hadn't entered a weigh station, although they were traveling in a nine-passenger work van, not a semi-trailer.
The men were transferred into ICE custody and all but one — who was deported on March 3 — are currently held at the Krome detention center in Miami. Meza does not have a criminal record.
'My one-year-old son just keeps asking where his dad is, he wants him to take him out to play on Saturdays like usual,' Cynthia said in a statement. 'It's so hard without him.'
Having moved from Mexico to the U.S. at age 10, Cynthia has been permitted to see her husband — with whom she's lived in Winston-Salem since 2015 — but she's hesitant.
In Meza's absence, Cynthia must care for the rest of their family and doesn't want to put that at risk.
'I feel very scared, because I'm a DACA recipient,' she said in Spanish.
At Krome, Meza reported inhumane living conditions in a short phone conversation with Cynthia.
More than 60 detainees are housed in a single room designed for less than 20. With a lack of beds, they are forced to sleep on the floor. Conditions are unsanitary due to a lack of cleaning supplies, toilets being placed near sleeping quarters — in open spaces without privacy — and a lack of access to medical care.
At least a dozen detainees have forfeited their right to an immigration court hearing since their arrival two weeks prior, accepting deportation to escape the life-threatening conditions at the facility, according to Siembra NC.
It's a similar story for another man, Jasua Josabe Sierra Carranza, who traveled to Columbia, South Carolina for a roofing job. On the way back home to Winston-Salem, his work crew was pulled over for speeding by York County sheriff's deputies.
Carranza was held for a misdemeanor 'no-operator permit' charge and placed into ICE custody, his wife Sindy Lopez, 21, told lawmakers in Spanish. He is now at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, where he awaits an immigration court hearing. Carranza has no criminal record.
Similar to Krome, Carranza faced harsh and dirty conditions at Stewart. Due to overcrowding, he slept on the floor until the deportation of another detainee freed up a bed.
Lopez and Carranza arrived in the U.S. two years ago, fleeing violence in Honduras, Lopez said. They have a three-year-old-son together.
'I keep telling him his dad is just at work, I'm afraid he'll stop eating if he knows the truth,' Lopez said in a statement.
Stateline reported on Wednesday that, despite concerns about racial profiling that gave rise to numerous lawsuits during previous similar campaigns, many state and local officials across the country have recently signed up to aid the Trump administration's mass deportation efforts.
The number of state and local agencies planning 'task force' agreements with the feds to do street-level immigration enforcement has reached 121 departments in 12 states: Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas.