Friends. My heart is heavy. I was all set to work on and send out a different Unruly Quaker today … when several friends called to let me know that an ICE raid was happening in my neighborhood, to my neighbors.
EDITING ON MARCH 2, 2025 TO ADD A CORRECTION: IT WAS NOT ICE WHO SNATCHED OUR NEIGHBORS. IT WAS CUSTOMS AND BORDER PATROL. I am grateful to Virginia Bridges at the News & Observer for making this public. I apologize for my mistake. I wrote some thoughts about it here.
The people taken. Were handcuffed. And in chains. They were crying. One was hooded by ICE. They were so scared.
ICE agents were masked. Armed to the teeth. Stalked and waited. Unmarked SUVS with tinted windows.
https://www.wral.com/news/local/durham-ice-arrests-residents-express-concerns-feb-2025/
The people taken - three young young men, are our community members. Neighbors. Human. Absolutely zero scary or sketchy about them.
I’ll have more to say when I’ve had time to decompress. I’m very grateful for Siembra NC, and for my brave neighbors who witnessed, tried to interrupt, filmed, asked to see Judicial Warrants, contacted Siembra NC, and bravely spoke their experiences to the news.
The moment calls for community and courage.
However— the young men were still taken.
We don’t know where these young men are, or where they go. (Guantanamo?)
None of this is okay.
XOXO