Durham students protest Border Patrol, ICE activity as threat to education
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- Over 200 DSA students protested Border Patrol and ICE presence, citing fear.
- District attendance fell sharply; DSA reported about 300 absences out of 1,800.
- Students plan citywide Friday protest to press immigrant rights and school access.
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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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More than 200 students at Durham School of the Arts protested Border Patrol actions in the Triangle Thursday, describing a climate of fear among classmates that disrupts both education and freedom.
They gathered outside along the Duke Street campus carrying signs that read “No Human Is Illegal” or “Build Bridges Not Fear,” and writing slogans on the sidewalk in chalk: “You belong” and “I Don’t Want ICE in my water.”
Junior and protest organizer Zane Sawin stood on a picnic table and reminded protesters that Wake County schools had seen attendance drop roughly 11% since federal agents arrived in Raleigh, and he said DSA had seen about 300 students absent out of 1,800.
“Does that sound like ICE is doing their job if students are afraid?” he asked. “They are not welcome in this community. This is a democracy and will always be a democracy.”
Sawin said the rising fear among students inspired him and other DSA students to organize the on-campus protest, and he described seeing a classmate rise for a drink of water during a Wednesday biology exam.
“I noticed she had a passport in her back pocket,” he said. “I’ve had personal friends who are afraid to go out on the streets.”
Durham Public Schools said 79.1% of students were present Tuesday, meaning a 20.9% absentee rate.
Falling attendance comes even as local and state education leaders assure immigrant families that the rights to attend schools is protected under a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision, regardless of their status.
DSA students said a Friday protest is planned for all Durham high schools at the Bull statue in downtown on Friday.
Sawin said organizing among high school students aims to show the Triangle’s youth is engaged in immigrant rights and objects to the detentions as strongly as adults.
“It’s a direct attempt by this administration to split communities and create widespread fear,” said Sawin. “High school is a great place to start.”
This story was originally published November 20, 2025 at 12:49 PM.
