Border Patrol sparks a small army to protect Raleigh neighbors | Opinion
A call for people interested in tracking and documenting federal immigration enforcement actions in Raleigh drew a small army to Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh on Tuesday night.
More than 500 people filled the pews and the balcony of the progressive church on Hillsborough Street adjacent to the N.C. State University campus.
The Rev. Nancy Petty welcomed the crowd, saying they were there “to learn how to keep each other safe” as U.S. Border Patrol agents began sweeps around the Triangle on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, a large crowd gathered in Raleigh’s Moore Square in opposition to the enforcement action.
When those at Pullen were asked how many were there for their first training in nonviolent resistance, almost all the hands went up.
The two-hour session was led by Anna Duncan, a Durham organizer with the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and Manju Rajendran of Ready the Ground, a North Carolina group that trains volunteers in social justice movements.
The session opened with Rajendran leading a sing-along in English and Spanish: “Rise up my people, rise up my condors and eagles, no human being will be illegal.”
The session moved on to a crash course in how to warn local residents about federal agents in an area and how to respond when agents arrest people suspected of being undocumented immigrants.
“It is not going to be possible for us to stop every single detention,” Duncan told the crowd, “but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth… bearing witness and documenting.”
Those opposed to the sweeping arrests face two challenges, Duncan said. One is creating videos of arrests by agents of the U.S. Border Control and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The other is dispelling rumors of pending enforcement actions that spread fear beyond the actual threat.
Some volunteers can help by acting as verifiers by calling in tips to a hotline run by Siembra, a North Carolina immigrant rights group, when a possible gathering of federal agents is spotted. Others can respond by blowing warning whistles at arrest sites, taking videos of the arrests, getting the names of those detained and reminding them of their rights.
The main goals of verifiers, Duncan said, are letting agents know they are being watched and warning people nearby that they may be targeted.
One woman in the audience asked, “How are we going to respond as tensions rise? How are we to stay – I don’t want to say calm – focused?”
She was told a “de-escalation team” usually will be there to pull aside people who get agitated and calm them before there’s a conflict with law enforcement.
Those seeking to shield undocumented immigrants need to avoid creating more problems for targeted immigrants and for themselves, Duncan said.
“We want to de-escalate,” she said. “The last thing we want to do is put people at further risk by letting our emotions escalate a situation and create further tension. We definitely never want to take any action that might bring more harm to people who are being targeted.”
She added, “We do not want to physically touch law enforcement, that’s something that could put ourselves at risk and put the person that’s being targeted at further risk.”
The crowd participated in role playing that demonstrated staying calm in the face of provocation, but also asserting their rights to ask agents to identify themselves and to witness and record their actions.
President Donald Trump is sending agents around the nation to arrest undocumented immigrants without due process and, contrary to his promise, has swept up people without criminal records. But what he and his agents are discovering in other cities, and now in the Triangle, is that their roundup of noncitizens will be resisted by citizens, too.
Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-404-7583, or nbarnett@newsobserver.com
This story was originally published November 19, 2025 at 11:11 AM.