Advocates Speak Against Recent ICE Actions in Charlotte

A devoted father of 11 children, Jose Martinez worked tirelessly to build his own business and become the sole provider for his family. For days following Martinez’s detainment at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Charlotte, it felt to his family as if he had disappeared.

“The hours and days that followed [his detainment] were agonizing,” said his daughter Joanna. “We desperately tried to navigate a broken and unresponsive immigration system designed to make finding a loved one nearly impossible.”

Immigration arrests have swept the nation since Donald Trump took office for the second time in January. A recent Department of Homeland Security report claimed the Trump administration has arrested more than 158,000 immigrants and exceeded 142,000 deportations in 2025 alone.

“This is just the beginning,” the report said.

And while the arrests have been made very public, with braggadocious social media posts coming from government agencies and even the White House boasting about deportations that have torn families apart across the country, what happens after those arrests has been covered by a shroud of secrecy, striking fear in a community that simply seeks stability in their lives.

ICE activity increases in Charlotte

Carolina Migrant Network (CMN) is a legal and advocacy organization that works with immigrants undergoing deportation proceedings or locked in detention centers and their families.

The organization held a press conference at its location inside the Charlotte Is Home Center off Shamrock Drive in east Charlotte on May 19 to address the increased ICE presence in local communities.

Community members in east Charlotte had noticed a surge in ICE sightings starting not long after Donald Trump took office for his second term in January, but things escalated on May 12 when agents detained the father of a Charlotte East Language Academy (CELA) in sight of the school’s drop-off line.

Though the detainment was not on school property, CELA PTA member Amy Hawn Nelson called the incident “deeply disturbing to our entire student body.”

”It was witnessed by many students, many families,” she said during the press conference that followed. “It was sudden, it was public and just deeply disruptive.”

The CELA PTA released a statement on its Instagram page, urging the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education to take a clear, public stance regarding ICE enforcement.

“No child should fear coming to school,” the statement read. “No family should feel invisible. Now is the time for leadership that reflects the values of our community.”

ICE claimed the man was a Mexican national with an extensive criminal history, but Nelson clarified that this was false.

“Misinformation like this is harmful and puts more families at risk,” Nelson said.

The agency later admitted that Noel Antonio Alfero Escobar, the man they arrested on Albemarle Road that day, was the victim of misidentification but was taken into custody anyway because he was undocumented despite having no criminal history. They claimed to have also arrested a man with a long criminal history, the original target, nearby on the same day.

The Board of Education released a statement following Escobar’s arrest saying the district would be providing additional counseling at CELA for students and staff.

“Our commitment to the well-being of every student remains unwavering and we are dedicated to serving all students so that they can receive the best education possible for a promising future,” the statement said, adding that, to that point, no federal immigration agents had yet attempted enforcement on any CMS properties.

“However, the Board reiterates the legal requirements and processes in place to protect all of our students,” the statement continued, “including the landmark Supreme Court decision in Plyler v. Doe (1982).”

Plyler v. Doe ensured that every student is entitled to free, public education regardless of immigration status; that federal agents are not permitted in public schools without a court order or warrant signed by a judge and presented to The Office of General Council; and that, without federal intervention, public schools cannot be made to divulge the legal status of students.

The publicized actions of federal agents both locally and nationally during Trump’s second administration have justified Carolina Migrant Network’s decision to restore its ICE hotline, allowing local residents to report ICE activity or detainments.

The hotline was created during Trump’s first presidential term. Arteaga said it was helpful for the community to have a reliable team available with resources for detainees’ families and a place to report ICE activity. The hotline fell quiet during the Biden administration and was deactivated, but CMN reinstated it on Jan. 20.

Before May 12, CMN staff only fielded a maximum of four calls per week. In the week following Escobar’s arrest, however, the organization received more than 148 calls, not including direct messages over the organization’s social media platforms and WhatsApp.

”The line … helps us keep a pulse on what’s happening in the community, which is why it’s been helpful in identifying the increase in ICE activity,” she said.

Arteaga asked that people who witness ICE activity in the Charlotte area contact CMN, which strives to better understand and document patterns of behavior from the agency, including the people they target and the areas they frequent for enforcement activity.

If someone calls the hotline after a loved one is detained, CMN conducts an intake to understand how they were detained and how to best connect them with available private or pro-bono attorneys.

“We want to make sure that the message is clear: What is currently happening is family separation,” Arteaga said at the press conference. “It is an attack on every Charlottean because it does not just impact immigrant community members; it impacts everyone.”

Arteaga said the latest actions are part of an aggressive ICE approach making its way across the region. Earlier this month, more than 100 people were detained in Nashville in a joint operation between ICE and the Tennessee Highway Patrol. ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) also arrested 87 people in Georgia and 19 in South Carolina, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

“I think they’re just going through the geographies,” Arteaga said.

The majority of ICE activity in Charlotte has been reported along Central Avenue and Albemarle Road in east Charlotte and North Tryon Street in north Charlotte, though CMN has documented detentions along South Boulevard and in surrounding towns including Pineville, Kannapolis, Concord and Monroe.

As well as carrying out enforcement activity around schools, ICE has been seen arresting people at the Mecklenburg County courthouse and posting up outside of Central United Methodist Church during preschool pickup.

Arteaga said that 100% of the detainments CMN has documented this year have been men — though that could change as time goes on — and agents have been mostly targeting working vans and vehicles.

How deportations impact our community

When someone is detained in the Charlotte area, they are often held at Alamance County Detention Center for a short period of time before being moved to the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. If Stewart and the Folkston ICE Processing Center in Folkston, Georgia are full, detainees may be moved to other states like Louisiana or Mississippi.

Joanna Martinez’s difficult experience navigating the immigration system following her father’s May 14 arrest was not an isolated event. Arteaga said ICE is known to hold immigrants in field offices before moving them across state lines without even processing them first.

Without processing, a detainee does not show up on the ICE Detainee Locator, making it incredibly challenging to find detained loved ones. On average, it takes a full day to find someone in the system after they’re detained, according to Arteaga.

After finding her father, Joanna drove six hours to Stewart Detention Center where he, his coworkers and some of her neighbors are being held. For years, Stwart has been subject to reports of abuse and neglect.

“Since his detention I have struggled to sleep, tormented by the thought that he was left unfed for days and is suffering while being detained,” she said. “For the first time in my life, I saw my father cry. The man who had always been our rock, our provider, was reduced to tears and shattered our hearts.”

Read more: Detainees Report Outbreaks, Excessive Force at ICE Detention Facilities (2021)

Manolo’s Bakery owner Manolo Betancur, an immigration advocate himself, has become familiar with the way ICE targets Latino men due to their looks alone. His wife has taken to carrying her American passport with her at all times.

”She’s so scared that she’s going to get pulled over because [of] myself, because I’m a target,” he said.

Betancur doesn’t carry his passport with him, saying that if he gets detained, ICE better bring a court order signed by a judge. If not, agents will need to kidnap him forcefully. Despite his stubborn nature, Betancur still worries about what would happen to his family, his business, and the families his businesses support if he were to be detained.

He knows of some families in the community who have moved back to Colombia because they couldn’t sleep for fear of being sent to Cecot, El Salvador’s “mega-prison” where the Trump administration has been sending US detainees without due process.

”But I cannot be silenced and let the fear and intimidation shut us [down],” he said. “That’s not America, man. That’s not one country. That’s not one nation.”

How immigrants help Charlotte’s economy

Many Latinx families live in multi-generational, multi-status households. When the primary breadwinners are detained, that has an economic impact, Arteaga said. One study showed that families lose an average of 70% of their income within six months of a parent’s detainment.

When families lose their main source of income, their ability to contribute to the larger economy is also affected.
Immigrants pay into Medicaid, Social Security and other tax-funded programs without receiving any of the benefits, Betancur pointed out.

In the Charlotte Metro area, immigrants hold $7.4 billion in spending power, paying $2.7 billion in taxes and accounting for 19,752 of the area’s entrepreneurs, according to a 2019 New American Economy report.

Betancur said that, since January 20, immigrant businesses are struggling and in some cases shutting their doors.

“Any business that is grown and depends on immigrant [employees or customers] is having a hard time,” he said.
The spring is typically Betancur’s busy season. There are weddings, graduations, quinceñaras and Mother’s Day, all of which call for specialty cakes that can cost up to $500 per cake. This year, there have been no big orders, he said.

Betancur is expecting a tough summer, not only because June, July and August are the slowest months for bakeries, but because his business lies along Central Avenue, a recent ICE hotspot. The immigrant community and allies alert each other of ICE activity over social media and WhatsApp groups, warning friends and neighbors to stay away from certain areas where ICE has been spotted.

Betancur understands people’s fear but still worries about what the lack of business will make of his bakery.

How to help your immigrant neighbors

Americans ask Betancur all the time: “What can we do?”

“Show up,” he replies; support local immigrant businesses and be mindful of where you spend your money.

He invites people to get out of their comfort zone and explore South Boulevard, farther down than just the popular South End spots. North Tryon Street, Central Avenue and many areas in east and west Charlotte have beautiful restaurants that are diverse and inexpensive, he said.

CMN holds Know Your Rights clinics to inform the public about what to do in the event of detainment, role playing ICE encounters to practice responses and providing resources to the immigrant community.

In the event of a detainment, Arteaga advises people to state their constitutional rights, to remain silent, not allow warrantless searches, not consent to having their fingerprints taken, and not answer any questions without the presence of an attorney.

In one case, a man stated his constitutional rights during an encounter with ICE, saying he would not speak without an attorney present, Arteaga said. The agents threatened to break the man’s windows if he didn’t exit the vehicle.

“I think that that’s part of a broader conversation around the way that ICE is being allowed to operate within our communities without any guardrails or impunity,” she said.

Reports of people taking advantage of that impunity are spreading. A man in South Carolina was charged for kidnapping and impersonating a police officer after attempting to detain a group of Latino men. Authorities in at least two other states have arrested individuals on similar charges, according to CNN.

Arteaga suggests that people who see ICE detaining someone call the CMN ICE hotline (listed below) to report what they witnessed so the organization can document the incident.

CMN’s Immigrant Solidarity Fund helps provide financial support to families with loved ones in immigration detention. The fund allows CMN to be the only organization in the Carolinas to provide free legal representation for people facing legal proceedings and/or being held in immigration detention facilities.

Listen: Carolina Migrant Network Reshapes the Narrative (2021)

Betancur also urges folks to speak out, get informed and to not spread misinformation about immigrants. ICE touts its achievement at getting “criminals” off the streets, but many of the people detained have no criminal record, he said.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the act of being present in the United States in violation of the immigration laws is not, standing alone, a crime. While federal immigration law does criminalize some actions that may be related to undocumented presence in the United States, undocumented presence alone is not a violation of federal criminal law but a civil violation.

“They keep saying that we are criminals and immigrants are criminals and immigration is a crime,” he said. “That’s just crazy.”

He added that, when ICE or the White House posts about detained or deported immigrants with criminal histories, there were likely dozens who were detained just because they’re immigrants.

”[ICE] is picking [up] good people,” he said. “Tell the stories, share the stories, tell the truth and put pressure on our elected officials that they need to raise their voices as well.”

During the May 19 press conference, Arteaga and fellow community advocates echoed Betancur’s plea toward elected officials.

“ICE operations are acts of violence,” Joanna said. “We call out elected officials to denounce these actions and protect immigrant families to the best of their ability.”

Queen City Nerve reached out to Mayor Vi Lyles to ask if her office, city council or city staff had any plans to answer these calls and stand in solidarity with the immigrant community. A city of Charlotte spokesperson sent back a statement emphasizing that CMPD has no role in federal immigration enforcement.

Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden has had a famously tumultuous relationship with ICE officials. Shortly after taking office in 2018, McFadden followed through on a campaign promise to end 287g, the infamous program that for 12 years allowed deputies in Mecklenburg County jails to identify arrestees who were in the country illegally and enter their names into a national database used by federal authorities.

Since then, he has resisted continued attempts from the NC General Assembly to force him to collaborate with ICE, including House Bill 318, known as the Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act, which has passed through the NC House and has been sitting in a state senate committee since late April.

Read more: Workers Decry Trump Cuts at West Charlotte Town Hall

Other local elected officials such as NC House Rep. Jordan Lopez have spoken out against ICE’s actions.
During a meeting on May 20, Mecklenburg County commissioner Susan Rodriguez-McDowell addressed the aggression being shown by ICE agents in family-friendly locations, responding to reports of masked agents who were present in the parking lot of Central United Methodist Church during preschool pickup earlier that day.

“There has been a disturbing increase in intimidating and aggressive activity,” Rodriguez-McDowell said. “Even today the agency descended upon a church preschool on Central Avenue with nearly a dozen vehicles. The fear that these tiny, innocent residents of our county are feeling is real and completely uncalled for … I call on ICE to find actual criminals who put the public at risk, not parents who are just trying to survive and provide for their families.”

The Carolina Migrant Network ICE hotline can be reached at 704-740-7737.