Earlier last month, the Department of Homeland Security launched Operation Charlotte’s Web, in the city of Charlotte, which has since resulted in over 250 immigration-related arrests.
North Carolina had one of the highest rates of 287(g) agreements earlier this year. Those are the contracts that, under federal law, allow enhanced cooperation between local law enforcement and Immigration and Customers Enforcement (ICE).
Immigration enforcement across the country has ramped up recently, prompting advocates in smaller cities, like Wilmington, to push back.
At NBLC’s press conference, Democratic House Representative for District 18 Deb Butler condemned these crackdowns, calling them inhumane.
“I want everybody to hear this, and hear it well,” Butler said. “Anyone on US soil, regardless of their documentation status, is afforded due process and equal protection under the law, and the Supreme Court has said it time and time again. So I'm here with these good folks to say that we condemn these illegal and amoral tactics.”
Wilmington resident and Indigenous advocate Cindy Sue Gallardo, drew parallels between today’s immigrant arrests by the agents in masks with “the men in suits,” who forced Indigenous peoples off of their land two centuries ago.
“We no longer live where our ancestors lived, where we were forcibly removed [through] genocide, forced out, to live in unbearable conditions. The thieves who took our land are here. They have not stopped,” Gallardo said.
“We, my brothers and sisters, are under attack,” she continued. “The men in suits enslaved other Indigenous people of color, taken from their homeland, to be sold as objects to do the work these men in suits did not want to do. There were other people of color that came to my homeland, immigrants from all over the world came to this melting pot of America to work for these men in suits who never paid fair wages or benefits. The immigrants gave their blood, sweat and tears - and lives — to make this nation.”
This press conference comes ahead of a planned rally planned by several organizations, including the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, Indivisible Wilmington, and ILM Action Network.
The rally will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6, at Innes Park in downtown Wilmington.
