Seven mayors from across North Carolina signed on to a letter condemning the recent actions by ICE across the state.

Among those who signed were Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger and Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle.

“I’m hoping we’ll get even more mayors to sign on to say, ‘we really do condemn these activities that ICE is performing in our communities,'” Hemminger said.

“They’re ripping families apart. No one was reporting any crimes. No one was asking for them to come do this. We haven’t had those kinds of incidents, and it terrorizes families and communities.”

ICE officials said earlier this month that hundreds of individuals had been taken into custody during recent raids and that not all of those arrested had criminal backgrounds.

Speaking on The Aaron Keck Show, Lavelle said that recent ICE raids have struck fear into the heart of the community. She emphasized her point by saying that her office regularly received calls and text messages from concerned citizens asking if ICE is in the area.

“It has our community members in a state of constant fear, afraid to go places that normally were considered safe: schools, churches and meetings with government officials.”

Along with condemning the actions taken by ICE, Hemminger and Lavelle both referenced that ICE agents having the word “Police” on their uniforms confused community members.

“Members of our community don’t know well enough to know that that’s not the local police,” Lavelle said.

Although recent ICE raids in North Carolina have not been confirmed Orange County, immigration officials arrested an Orange County man in 2018 after a brief standoff with local authorities and another round of raids last spring did impact Orange County.

Shortly after Uriel Aguilar-Castellanos was taken into custody by Orange County authorities in September 2017, ICE placed an immigration detainer on him. He was released from the Orange County Detention Center in June 2018, with Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood citing that Aguilar was released “as required by the constitutions of the United States and North Carolina and in accordance with current caselaw.”

“Aguilar spent close to 300 days in custody awaiting resolution of his charges,” Blackwood said at the time. “At any point during that time, Immigration and Customs Enforcement was able to assume custody of Mr. Aguilar; however, that option was not exercised.”

Hemminger and Lavelle said they are both reaching out to mayors across the state and country as well.

“This is not unique to North Carolina,” Hemminger said. “And cities and mayors across the nation are all saying the same thing to our federal government, ‘We need a plan that has a pathway so that we can make progress instead of just sort of continuing to terrorize families.'”

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