Live updates: US Border Patrol arrives in Raleigh area. Here’s what we know
For updates on Nov. 19, 2025, of U.S. Border Patrol operations in the Raleigh-Durham area, see this story.
The U.S. Border Patrol arrived in the Triangle Tuesday after a weekend of arrests and protests in Charlotte.
Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell said Tuesday there had been several “confirmed sightings” of federal agents in the area, and the immigrant organizing group Siembra NC reported at least a dozen arrests across the Triangle.
Tuesday’s operation comes after Border Patrol agents arrested over 200 people in “Operation Charlotte’s Web” this weekend. The arrests included people taken into custody while pumping gas, going to the supermarket, heading to work, and coming out of their front door, according to Siembra NC.
“Criminal records of those arrested include known gang membership, aggravated assault, possession of a dangerous weapon, felony larceny, simple assault, hit and run, possession of stolen goods, shoplifting, DUI, DWI, and illegal re-entry after prior deportation, a felony,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Tuesday.
N.C. Gov. Josh Stein and Cowell had both confirmed Monday night that the federal agents were coming. The governor called on them to focus on people charged with violent crimes.
“Stop targeting people simply going about their lives because of the color of their skin, as you are doing in Charlotte,” Stein said in a statement.
The News & Observer will be monitoring border patrol activity in Raleigh, Durham and the Triangle. Check back for updates.
If you have witnessed an interaction between federal agents and residents of the Triangle, please let us know. Send email to metroeds@newsobserver.com.
5:45 p.m. Democratic Party Chair: ‘Get the hell out of Wake County’
Wake County Democratic Party Chair Wesley Knott shared a video and the position of the Wake County Democrats Tuesday evening.
“It should come as no surprise that we don’t take kindly to the idea of a bunch of masked men who ain’t from around here, showing up unannounced to kick down our doors and grab our neighbors off the street,” he said.
He urged people targeted by Immigration to stay home and not to answer their door unless immigration officials have a signed warrant with their name on it. And Wake County residents, he said, should protest, notify Siembra NC if they see Immigration officials and record those officials.
“To those bringing this fear and chaos here, with all due respect, get the hell out of Wake County,” Knott said. “This is our home. You are not welcome here. You should leave y’all. This is not normal. This is not just another day in the Trump administration. It is not normal for masked agents to terrorize our homes over the protests of our governor, our mayors and our local elected officials. We must not let them normalize this.”
— Anna Roman
5:41 p.m. Orange County leaders, law enforcement denounce fear
The mayors of Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Hillsborough and the chair of the Orange County commissioners chair released a joint statement, accompanied by a joint statement signed by the county’s sheriff and towns’ police chiefs stating “communities are made better by the diversity of people within them.”
“We understand that federal immigration authorities are active in the Triangle, causing fear and creating uncertainty in our communities,” the joint statement said. “Their operations in other cities have used racial profiling to detain legal and law-abiding community members, without cause or due process.
“We strongly denounce actions that sow fear among community members, undermine our local community safety efforts, and infringe on the human rights of our most vulnerable friends and neighbors.”
The statements — in English and Spanish — urged people to know their rights and have a plan if they are stopped by federal agents. It reminded the community that the local law enforcement agencies do not participate in Immigration and Customs or U.S. Customs and Border Patrol operations. The UNC police chief was not among those signing the law enforcement statement.
“In this time of heightened fear, we want to assure our community — especially our most vulnerable residents — that we will continue to protect and serve all community members,” the law enforcement statement said.
— Mark Schultz
5 p.m. Hundreds protest at Raleigh’s Moore Square
Hundreds of people filled Moore Square demanding an end to federal immigration raids in Raleigh and across the Triangle, calling them a “direct, brutal attack” on family and friends.
“Racists ain’t safe in the Dirty South,” one sign read. “For everyone that you arrest, a hundred more will show up next,” read another.
Cars passed the downtown square, honking in approval. Shortly after dark, the protesters took to Raleigh streets for a march, chanting, “Down, down with occupation, up, up with liberation.”
Behind the protesters, Raleigh’s yet-unlit Christmas tree provided a backdrop — a star at its top.
As the crowd grew, they marched through downtown from Moore Square to Fayetteville Street and up to the Capitol, then turning back down Salisbury Street, repeating chants of “ICE out of Raleigh now! ICE out of Durham now!” and “No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state!” along the way.
Raleigh police cars blocked traffic at the intersections as the crowd moved through downtown.
Dinah Wells of Raleigh said she thinks what’s happening with the Border Patrol “is very sad. Even as a Black woman, I know what it’s like to be profiled. No one should live in fear.”
— Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan
4:30 p.m. Afraid to meet the kids at the school bus stop
Moms rushed out of apartments to get their children when two school buses stopped in the South Ridge Apartments neighborhood off Rock Quarry Road in Raleigh. Border Patrol agents had been in the neighborhood about an hour earlier.
In a nearby apartment complex, a maintenance worker named Samuel, who had been stopped by the Border Patrol earlier in the day, was walking some children to their apartments because their parents were afraid to come outside.
— Scott Sharpe
4 p.m. At least a dozen people detained in Triangle, advocacy group says
Siembra NC reported at least a dozen people were detained Tuesday in the Triangle as of 1 p.m., according to a news release.
It identified them as “landscape workers in Raleigh, construction workers at the Lightbridge Academy in Cary, people detained while walking on the sidewalk in front of the Morazan Restaurant in Raleigh, walking outside the Tree Top Apartments in Raleigh, and at several other apartment complexes.”
Siembra NC will join with Durham elected officials, immigrant rights advocates and faith leaders at a news conference at 5 p.m. Tuesday at All My Children Childcare on Angier Avenue.
— Kristen Johnson
3 p.m. Durham County commissioner records arrests
Durham County Commissioner Chair Nida Allam worked with immigrant rights organizers Tuesday and traveled to locations with them when they heard of Border Patrol sightings.
Around noon, she went to Beauty World in Avondale Park and found three people being arrested behind the building.
“Durham is more than 1,300 miles from the southern border, and yet I watched heavily armed CBP agents detain three men at Beauty World without a warrant,” she told The N&O. “As a naturalized immigrant myself, I felt fear being there witnessing and documenting, and that should tell you everything about how extreme and unnecessary these operations are.”
Video shows her and another volunteer asking Border Patrol agents if they had warrants, to identify themselves and to explain why the people were being arrested. In the video, one of the agents, wearing a mask over much of his face, said the men “were in the country illegally.”
Allam said the arrests were “not about safety, it’s about intimidation.”
Volunteers watching for patrols camped out in the parking lot in front of the beauty supply store that shares a shopping center with several multi-cultural businesses, including a Dominican salon, a Chinese restaurant and Tienda Mi Pueblo.
— Kristen Johnson
2:45 p.m. Senate Democratic leader Batch calls operation federal overreach
N.C. Senate Minority Leader Sydney Batch, a Wake County Democrat, released a statement Tuesday as Border Patrol agents were spotted throughout the Triangle.
“Federal immigration officials have the authority to enforce immigration law,” she said. “But they do not have the right to terrorize our communities, traumatize our children, or trample on the Constitution.
“We support our local law enforcement officers, the people who know our communities, respect our neighbors, and uphold the law with integrity. We also support removing truly dangerous criminals from our communities. But that is not what is happening here,” Batch said.
She said that “every North Carolinian should be horrified” by the Border Patrol’s recent tactics in multiple cities and called it federal overreach and “an affront to our values.”
Batch called it “a return to a shameful era when some people are forced to carry legal documentation on them at all times just to avoid harassment, detention, or worse. ‘Where are your papers?’ is a question that should have been buried with the darkest chapters of our history.”
On Monday, several Charlotte-area Democratic lawmakers also condemned Border Patrol tactics.
— Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan
2:40 p.m. Raleigh protest planned
Some critics of the Border Patrol enforcement effort plan to protest at 5 p.m. Tuesday in downtown Raleigh’s Moore Square. The Triangle branch of the Party For Socialism and Liberation posted on Instagram, “We must flood the streets to show that the masses of people demand ICE out of NC.”
Cowell and other law enforcement authorities urged people to protest peacefully.
“Those who want to express their First Amendment rights, please do so in a lawful and peaceful way, and just be particularly kind to your neighbors today,” she said.
And, Cowell added, if people feel unsafe or see something they believe to be illegal, they should contact the Raleigh Police Department.
— Anna Roman
1:30 p.m. Triangle grocery stores offer delivery
After the Department of Homeland Security arrested over 130 people in Charlotte, including at grocery stores, Charlotte-area grocery stores started offering delivery so residents could stay home, The Charlotte Observer reported.
Compare Foods — which offers a large selection of groceries from Latin America, Africa and Asia — offered Charlotte shoppers free delivery and pickup through the end of the year.
Grocers in the Triangle are working to make similar arrangements.
The Super Compare Foods at 2000 Avondale Drive in Durham, one of five Compare Foods locations in the Triangle, was working with food delivery services to make arrangements but had not done so as of Tuesday morning.
The other Compare Foods in Durham, at 1233 University Drive, is offering free delivery.
— Renee Umsted
1:10 p.m. Resources for knowing your rights
With U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Raleigh area, and with little clarity about when or where agents might appear next, people in the Triangle area should know their rights and be prepared if they encounter federal officers.
Here are some sources.
- Border Patrol is in Raleigh. Know your rights if you get stopped
- Here’s what to do if Border Patrol comes to your home or workplace in Raleigh
- Is it legal to film Border Patrol agents in Raleigh? Here’s NC law
— Evan Moore
12:50 p.m. What Wake schools are telling students and families
Student absences could be sharply up Tuesday in Wake County schools amid reports of Border Patrol agents beginning operations in the Raleigh area.
Attendance has dropped in other school districts that saw increased operations by federal immigration agents, including 21% of Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system students who stayed home Monday.
By mid-day, the school district sent out a letter to families to reassure them that they would be protected.
“Our primary mission is, and always will be, to provide a safe, welcoming, and inclusive learning environment for every single child, regardless of immigration status,” Wake County Superintendent Robert Taylor said in his statement.
“We want all staff and families to feel secure in knowing that we are dedicated to protecting the privacy and rights of all our students, and we are legally required to enroll and educate all children residing within our boundaries,” he wrote.
The note also provides resources for how parents can talk to their children and how to handle absences. The note says teachers will work with families to provide at-home classwork.
“Sharing the reason for the absence — whether it’s illness, a family matter, or simply feeling worried — helps us understand how to best support your child,” the note said.
— T. Keung Hui
12:30 p.m. Morrisville preparing for ‘business as usual’
The town of Morrisville, where Indian and South Asian immigrants make up over 40% of the town’s population, was not notified about immigration operations planned in the western Wake County town.
Morrisville is “a welcoming and inclusive community, and the safety and well-being of all our residents is paramount,” said Morrisville Mayor TJ Cawley. “Our local law enforcement will continue to focus on community-oriented policing, building trust, and ensuring that everyone who calls Morrisville home feels secure as we go about our daily lives.”
In Wake County, there are about 80,000 immigrants from India, according to U.S. Census data. India also ranked third behind Mexico and El Salvador with the highest number of people entering the country without proper authorization.
— Anna Roman
12:15 p.m. Keeping watch in Garner
Volunteers with Siembra NC stood outside the Lowe’s off U.S. 70 in Garner on Tuesday on the hunch that immigration agents would try to arrest people there. But by about 1 p.m., all they’d seen was two groups of officers from the State Highway Patrol and the Wake County Sheriff’s Office having lunch at the Bali Hai Mongolian Barbecue restaurant.
Juan Macias was also outside the Lowe’s. Macias, a U.S. citizen, owns a landscaping business based in Johnston County that employs two men in the country without authorization to be in the U.S.
“My guys are illegal, but hard-working people,” he said. “So I told them not to show up this week at all.”
Like members of Seimbra, Macias spent Tuesday trying to locate agents and reporting what he learned to a Spanish-language radio station in Smithfield.
“We’re just trying to let our people know, ‘Don’t go this way’ or ‘Just stay home,’” he said.
Macias said he understands arresting and deporting people who slipped into the country and then committed crimes.
“Those are the ones that are supposed to be gone,” he said. “But if you see somebody working. For example, you hear a leaf blower right now. You see him working. He’s not doing nothing bad. He’s working. How are you going to take somebody who is working? And you know it’s going to crash the economy if a lot of Hispanics leave. The economy’s going to be bad.”
— Richard Stradling
10:53 a.m. Congresswoman offers aid, condemnation
U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee offered help to her constituents Tuesday, while condemning the deployment of Border Patrol and ICE agents in North Carolina.
“I stand firmly with our immigrant communities and will do everything in my power to hold the Trump Administration accountable for their oppressive and cruel actions,” Foushee said, in a news release. The Democrat from Orange County represents North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District in the Triangle.
She said she was “outraged” by Border Patrol’s continued and expanding presence, adding that North Carolina is “not a war zone.”
“What is happening in our state, and many others across the country, is completely unconscionable,” Foushee wrote. “Yet, the Trump Administration has chosen to initiate policies designed to instill fear, undermine due process, and disproportionately target Black, Brown, and immigrant residents. These aggressive operations conducted with unmarked vehicles, masked agents, paramilitary tactics, and warrantless detentions constitute a deliberate form of racial profiling and intimidation that has no place in our communities.”
Foushee said the administration’s actions are “a profound abuse of power, a violation of civil rights and a stain on our democracy.” She called on federal authorities to stop and for investigations of every allegation of racial profiling and abuse.”
She also asked those in her district impacted by Border Patrol to call her office at 919-967-9724 for help. She also provided an ICE Privacy Release Form that allows people to share information and records with a third party.
— Danielle Battaglia
10:50 a.m. Border Patrol questions townhome employee
Two SUVs with four Border Patrol agents questioned a worker driving a golf cart at a townhome complex on Rock Quarry Road near Southeast Raleigh High but did not arrest him. He showed identification. The agents did not display guns. They had been cruising the area and left after The News & Observer photographed them.
— Scott Sharpe
10:30 a.m. Agents apprehend man at Cary Home Depot
At about 10:30 a.m., Geoffrey Chandler of Raleigh saw roughly eight federal agents loading a handcuffed man into a black SUV outside the Home Depot in Cary.
The agents were masked, wearing fatigues, and appeared to be armed, he said, while the detained man appeared to be middle-aged and Latino.
“There were people, myself included, honking and blowing whistles and screaming at the ICE agents,” he said.
— Josh Shaffer
8 a.m. Raleigh, NC officials urge peace as immigration agents expected
The city of Raleigh is asking residents not to confront federal immigration agents, who are expected in Raleigh Tuesday after making over 100 arrests in Charlotte over the weekend.
In a Facebook post Tuesday morning, the immigrant rights group Siembra NC said it had seen Border Patrol agents leaving from their Charlotte headquarters, “but we’re seeing many fewer cars than normal, several are likely already on their way to Raleigh.”
“We expect that the agents will be met in Raleigh with a similar community effort that, like Charlotte, values the safety and freedom of all of their neighbors,” Nikki Marín Baena, co-director of Siembra NC, said in a news release.
U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are different agencies. The Border Patrol is the law enforcement arm of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It has been sent to cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles and, most recently, Charlotte.
— Mark Schultz
This story was originally published November 18, 2025 at 8:57 AM.