FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 12, 2019
CONTACT: Andrew Willis Garces, AFSC/Siembra NC
(202) 277-5262
A month after historic ICE arrests, immigrants make history with "community defense" effort
GREENSBORO, NC — In the five weeks since historic Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) detentions left more than 297 in custody across North Carolina, over 200 adults and 60 children in Latinx immigrant communities have met to strategize at four different "ICE Free Zone" Community Defense Assemblies in four counties throughout the Triad area. These community meetings, held in Spanish, are the first of their kind in the state, and were held in Burlington (Alamance County), Greensboro (Guilford), Winston-Salem (Forysth) and Asheboro (Randolph). Photos attached, with more available on www.facebook.com/SiembraNC.
"ICE Watch" Program Goes Viral, & Reaches Reaches Training Milestone
This video of Burlington resident and Siembra ICE Watch volunteer Ted Moree has been viewed over 3 million times across several NowThis Facebook pages. And over 100 people with driver's licenses have also been trained as part of an "ICE Watch" program at three separate trainings throughout the Triad.
$30,000 Raised for Impacted Families
A GoFundMe fundraiser, combined with a match from a local Greensboro foundation, raised nearly $30,000 to support local immigrant families with legal, housing, bond, transportation to Georgia and other costs.
Sheriff Campaigns in Guilford & Forsyth Counties
In Forsyth and Guilford counties, community members are working alongside community partners to encourage new sheriffs to adopt judicial warrant policies; and in Forsyth County, to revise the sheriff's contract with the US Marshals Service to exclude ICE. Two weeks ago, Sheriff Kimbrough notified ICE that he will no longer honor administrative arrest warrants and will instead require criminal judicial warrants.
Door-to-Door "ICE Watch" Trainings in Alamance County
Community members in Alamance County, where the sheriff recently signed a lucrative jail agreement with ICE, have been going door-to-door to inform their neighbors about the new ICE contract, hosting "Mexican Hot Chocolate & Even Hotter Information" gatherings at local homes and training other community members on how to identify ICE agents lurking outside the homes in the early morning hours.
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