BURLINGTON -- Siembra NC, a local activist group of immigrants and allies that advocates for Latinx rights, held a community gathering Thursday night to protest recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids the group said took place in North Carolina this week.
Juan Miranda, the group’s community organizer, said Siembra has heard of at least six people in Burlington that were taken from the area yesterday. Elon News Network has contacted ICE but could not independently confirm any detentions at this time.
“We are here, we’re going to continue fighting and protecting our community and we are not going to stop until ICE is out of our community, never to be seen again,” Miranda said.
The event was held in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express in Burlington because the group said ICE agents are staying there while conducting the raids. At the event, the group confronted the front desk and delivered a letter to the owners. The confrontation was short-lived and the front desk worker did not comment.
Neither the hotel manager nor one of the owners, Ravi Desai, could not confirm if there were ICE agents staying. "Our hotel continues to provide hospitality for a diverse array of guests, and to accommodate a person or group is not an endorsement of their views affiliations, or activities," Desai said in a phone interview.
Julia, an undocumented woman from Mexico who lives in Burlington with her mother and two children has been in fear for the last few days.
“We were scared yesterday because yesterday we stayed the whole day, the whole night, we didn’t even come to work, we were locked in our houses, we didn’t even go outside in our yard,” Julia said. “We are like freaking dogs trapped in a cage.”
She said the father of her children was deported months ago, and started to tear up when thinking about it happening to other people.
Siembra NC facebook livestreamed the entire event: