Durham protesters march to oppose Trump deportation push, support LA defiance
About 100 people clustered in Durham’s CCB Plaza Friday night to protest ICE raids and support people opposing immigrant detentions and deportations in Los Angeles.
Early on, warnings were sounded.
“Concealing our identities makes us harder to surveil,” a masked speaker said to the crowd as the protest kicked into gear.
The speaker told protesters to not take photos or videos that could be used against them.
“Brick by brick, wall by wall, border walls are about to fall,” crowd members chanted as they marched to the historic Durham County courthouse, at times blocking both lanes of traffic on downtown streets.
As Durham police officers, some in masks, observed from a distance, participants gave speeches calling for police and ICE to be abolished.
Two News & Observer reporters on the scene saw a masked protester spray red paint on a Vietnam War memorial outside the building. Someone projected the words “A NEW WORLD FROM THE ASHES OF THE OLD” above the building’s entrance.
Inspired by events in Los Angeles
After several ICE raids on June 6, protesters in Los Angeles attempted to block ICE vans and access to a federal building where ICE processed detainees. That night, the Los Angeles Police Department posted on social media that the protesters had unlawfully assembled.
On June 7, President Donald Trump deployed National Guard troops to Los Angeles, against the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The last time the federal government activated the National Guard without a state’s consent was in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to Alabama to protect Civil Rights activists marching in Montgomery, Ala., according to the New York Times.
Trump elevated the federal response by sending 700 Marines and doubling the number of National Guard troops on Tuesday. An appeals court’s ruling allowed for Trump to deploy the National Guard until at least June 17, reversing a federal judge’s order to block the deployment.
Two very different points of view
The Trump administration, which has made deportations a top priority, views the federal response to protests in Los Angeles completely differently than its opponents do.
“These operations are essential to halting and reversing the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States. In the wake of this violence, California’s feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens,” a June 7 White House statement reads.
The LAPD had arrested at least 400 protesters as of Thursday, according to The Associated Press.
In Durham Friday evening, protesters knocked over a couple of metal trash cans and rolled them into a street.
People not involved in the march hustled to move them back. One swore at the marchers, who dispersed after reaching Central Park, less than two hours after starting.
More marches are planned across the country — including in the Triangle — on Saturday. A “core principle” of those gatherings is a commitment to nonviolence, according to the nokings.org website.
The protests will “reject authoritarianism,” organizers say.
“They’ve defied our courts, deported Americans, disappeared people off the streets, attacked our civil rights, and slashed our services,” the website says. “The corruption has gone too. far.”
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein released a statement Friday afternoon urging only peaceful action.
“Our nation’s history has been shaped by powerful examples of nonviolent protest, and we are the better for them,” Stein said. “Turning to violence or destruction, however, risks harming people and property; it will not be tolerated. Keeping North Carolinians safe is an absolute must.”
No Kings protests will take place in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary, Wake Forest, Hillsborough, Morrisville, Pittsboro and Clayton. A map of where they are planned can be found here.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was modified to more precisely describe what two News & Observer reporters saw when a masked man approached a Vietnam War memorial with spray paint during the protest.
This story was originally published June 13, 2025 at 8:48 PM.
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