NC families avoiding food pantries due to immigration fear. Delivery could help.
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U.S. Border Patrol in the Triangle
The U.S. Border Patrol sent agents to Raleigh, Durham, Cary and other parts of the Triangle Nov. 18 and 19 after a surge of enforcement in Charlotte. Here’s ongoing reporting from The News & Observer.
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Volunteers in orange and yellow safety vests swarmed the small parking lot Wednesday at Iglesia Presbiteriana Emanuel church in Durham, loading food like clockwork into a line of waiting cars.
About 120 volunteers, working in pairs, first placed a grocery bag of non-perishable foods — rice, beans, pasta and tomato sauce — into each car, then a box of fresh produce and a dozen local eggs.
Other volunteers stood along surrounding streets, directing traffic and keeping watch for immigration enforcement teams.
About 60% of the over 800 families who pick up food each week are Latino, and many have several children, Emanuel Food Pantry co-founder Miguel Rubiera said. They don’t ask people about their immigration status or financial need, he said.
This week, the pantry expanded to home deliveries. They could provide food this week for at least 150 families who are afraid to go out because of immigration arrests in the Triangle, he said.
“There was so much activity around here, we made sure that nobody came here,” Rubiera said. “Today seems to be a little quieter, and we have people from [a local group] all around the neighborhood. They all have whistles. We have walkie-talkies.”
Federal officials have not said how many people have been arrested in North Carolina since the raids started Saturday, but The News & Observer confirmed ICE picked up nine people in Cary. At least 370 people have been arrested in Charlotte, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Thursday.
The Emanuel Food Pantry is not just addressing hunger, but also providing nutritious options, said Margaret Rubiera, who started the hunger relief effort with her husband Miguel in 2010.
Their mission has since grown from about 50 families a month to over 4,000. In 2020, they added a drive-through option during the COVID pandemic. The food is purchased with donations and also comes from local and regional food banks, stores, and Farmer Foodshare.
It costs about $8,000 a week to provide families with healthy meals, but it’s important to “respect the integrity and the pride of the people that come for food,” Miguel Rubiera said.
Margaret Rubiera agreed.
“If you give them rotten food, that is not treating them with dignity,” she said. “For so long, the attitude towards low-income people was if they need the food, they’ll eat it. You know? The answer is no.”
Other local food pantries said they also have adapted their operations this week in response to statewide immigration arrests.
Getting food to Orange County families
In Orange County, rumors swirled that immigration officers were in Hillsborough, on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, and at the Carrboro Plaza shopping center and apartment complexes in Carrboro.
Siembra NC, an immigrant support organization tracking immigration enforcement activities statewide through a new web-based app OJO NC had confirmed only one sighting as of Thursday — at the Circle K on Jones Ferry Road in Carrboro.
No arrests have been confirmed in Orange County.
But the fears forced families to shelter at home, missing work and school, local officials said. PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro provided fewer Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools students with monthly bags of food for their families, spokesperson Sofia Edelman said.
Over 8% of CHCCS students were absent Tuesday, or 883 students, district spokesman Andy Jenks said. That was 366 more absences than reported the previous week, he said. The district does not track students’ immigration status.
Carrboro High School decided to postpone its CultureFest until a later date “when all feel safe to attend and celebrate together,” he said.
PORCH, which sends snacks, fresh produce and non-perishable food home with over 800 local students, is looking to expand its home delivery, possibly with a third-party app like DoorDash, spokesperson Sofia Edelman said.
Fewer than half of the students they serve are Hispanic, she said, but “we’re seeing people requesting deliveries specifically because they’re afraid to leave their houses with ICE present.”
Fewer people are going to ask for help if “immigrants’ basic human rights are being thrown out the window,” Edelman said.
“Whatever numbers we’re seeing of people reaching out to us or reaching out to other nonprofits, other food security organizations, or other resource-facing organizations, I think that we need to assume the number is much higher than that,” she said.
Where to get help in Orange County
- Emanuel Food Pantry: 2-4 p.m. Wednesdays at 2504 N. Roxboro St., Durham. Register online starting at 7 a.m. Wednesdays for a reserved time slot. Show your QR code to the volunteer when you arrive to get a paper ticket. Learn more about donating or volunteering at emanuelfoodpantry.org.
- PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro: Families should reach out to their school social worker to apply. Learn more about donating or volunteering at chapelhill.porchcommunities.org.
- TABLE NC: Operates a small pantry in Carrboro and also delivers food each week to over 1,125 children in Orange County. Over 300 children are currently on the waitlist. Learn more about donating or volunteering at tablenc.org.
- Orange Congregations in Mission: Operates a food pantry serving Hillsborough and northern Orange County families. Learn more about donating or volunteering at ocimnc.org.
- Triangle Mutual Aid is collecting donations today, Nov. 20, in Durham and Raleigh in partnership with Siembra NC and other local organizations. Get more information and list of needed items at facebook.com/TriangleMutualAid.
- Grocery delivery: Compare Foods, with five Triangle locations, is offering free delivery for a limited time. Learn more at newsobserver.com/news/local/article312962080.html.
In the Spotlight designates ongoing topics of high interest that are driven by The News & Observer’s focus on accountability reporting.
This story was originally published November 20, 2025 at 2:59 PM.
