In Durham, immigrant advocates condemn ICE presence at courthouse

“From what we know, ICE came to try to detain someone before they could have a first appearance in court,” an organizer with Siembra NC said in Durham.

by Greg Childress, NC Newsline
July 23, 2025

Durham government officials and advocates for immigrants on Wednesday condemned the presence of four plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at the Durham County Courthouse to detain a man due to make his first court appearance.

The agents’ presence was reported around 9:30 a.m., to Siembra NC, a grassroots immigrant advocacy group, by an anonymous “community member.” The unnamed man due in court never appeared, the group reported. Siembra leaders said it has information suggesting that agents will return to the courthouse on Thursday.

“From what we know, ICE came to try to detain someone before they could have a first appearance in court,” said Andrew Willis Garcés, an organizer with Siembra NC. “This is someone with a first appearance at court, not someone with a conviction. And so obviously, ICE does not care about the rule of law, about due process, about public safety, which is cultivated at the local level.”

In a statement, Kelly Morales, Siembra NC’s co-director, said the group will stand with Durham.

“That’s why we plan to have our people show up to Durham County Courthouse tomorrow morning to do what we can to preserve justice for everyone in our communities,” Morales said. “And we are calling on elected officials and leaders throughout our state to ask themselves if they’re doing everything they can to do the same.”

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Morales said the group’s “ICE Watch” program is quickly becoming a “court watch program” as ICE agents begin to appear at courthouses with more frequency.

Since the beginning of the year, the group has trained nearly 2,000 people for its ICE Watch program across multiple counties, Siembra leaders said. The program was created in response to increased ICE-led detentions in Wake, Durham, Mecklenburg and Guilford counties, they said.

Durham officials and others who gathered outside of the courthouse Wednesday for a news conference said the report of ICE agents sent a chill through immigrant communities

Such tactics spread fear and erode trust, they said.

“When agents show up in plain clothes to detain someone with a scheduled court appearance, it sends a clear message that immigrant communities are not safe anywhere,” said Durham Board of County Commissioners Chairwoman Nida Allam.

Allam said a young immigrant couple who planned to get married Wednesday changed their minds after they learned ICE agents had been at the courthouse.

“We don’t know what their citizenship status is, we didn’t ask, but the fact is, that even if they were citizens, they don’t feel safe,” Allam said. “It instills a fear in community members who look different, who have black or brown skin, that they are under threat of being detained.”

Allam, a naturalized citizen with dual citizenship in Canada and the U.S., said she feels threatened at times due to Trump administration policies targeting immigrants for deportation.

“In Trump 1 [Trump’s first administration] we saw the targeting of Black and brown communities but what we see now is Trump 1 times 100,” Allam said. “Under this new administration, there’s no one who seems to be safe.”

Durham school board member Natalie Beyer noted that the district’s year-round schools started this week. Beyer said the fear and distrust generated by targeting immigrants “ripples” through the schools.

“Children have a constitutional right to education in this country,” Beyer said. “We need to make sure that families feel safe in our schools, in our clinics and our courthouses and our public spaces so that they can take care of their families and no live in fear.”

Beyer said some families are afraid to allow their children to walk to schools. She said the district has begun to hold more events virtually instead of in person to ease the fears of immigrant families uncomfortable being around police officers.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) called Wednesday’s incident “disturbing” and the latest in increased ICE activity across North Carolina and the South. The group noted the recent detention of Mohamed Ali Aboubaker Naser, a father of five in Greensboro who it contends is in the country legally. Naser’s attorney said her client also holds a valid visa.

“These courthouse ambushes are not isolated events,” said Nicole Drapluk with the PSL. “They are part of a broader strategy of intimidation and repression targeting immigrant communities across the South, especially in North Carolina.”

NC Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. NC Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Rob Schofield for questions: [email protected].