Community leaders, civil rights organizations, elected officials, and affected individuals participated in the People's Hearing on the Enforcement of Immigration Laws in North Carolina, held in Charlotte on Tuesday, September 2.
The national initiative seeks to document the consequences of federal immigration operations and build a public record that will serve as a basis for future accountability actions.
The hearing gathered more than 25 testimonies from people directly affected to document the impact of immigration operations on communities in North Carolina.
This hearing was private and closed to the media to protect the privacy of several participants.
Why in Charlotte?
With this hearing, Charlotte became the sixth city in the country to host this documentation exercise, following similar events held in Minnesota, Illinois, California and Texas, with cities that were targeted by Border Patrol operations in 2025.
During the press conference held at the headquarters of the Latin American Coalition, prior to the hearing held elsewhere, the participants agreed that the objective was to record the human and economic effects and social aspects of the so-called Operation Charlotte's Web, conducted by the Border Patrol in November 2025.
A registry to demand justice
Frankie Miranda, president and CEO of the national organization Hispanic Federation, explained that the purpose of the hearing is to build a dossier with testimonies from families, small entrepreneurs, community organizations and people affected by the actions of federal immigration agencies.
That record, he said, will be handed over to the new Congress with the aim of promoting oversight mechanisms and ensuring respect for human rights in future operations.
“We hope this is the beginning of a healing process, but also of justice, to clearly state that what happened is unacceptable and does not represent the democratic values of this country,” he said.
Documenting human rights violations
Former chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR), Marty Castro, noted that this effort seeks to listen to those who directly experienced the consequences of the operation.
“Today we are going to dismantle Charlotte’s Web to learn what really happened here. We will listen to those who were truly affected by this campaign of terror, which continues to harm, traumatize, and divide members of our community,” she stated.
Castro recalled that during his tenure as head of the USCCR, they also documented human rights violations occurred during the Obama administration and highlighted that those records later served to promote investigations and institutional actions.
“The documents we are creating in each city where these hearings are held will serve as a basis for demanding accountability, either through the Commission or a new Congress,” he said.
Impact beyond the immigrant community
State Representative Jordan Lopez, who represents District 112 in the North Carolina Assembly, said that Operation Charlotte's Web had repercussions that went beyond the immigrant community.
“Charlotte’s Web had a profound impact on our community, from small businesses to school attendance and families, regardless of their immigration status,” López said.
The legislator pointed out that, according to documented information about the operation, most of the people arrested did not have criminal convictions and about a third had no criminal record.
“What we saw was an operation that affected parents, workers, students, entrepreneurs, and essential members of our communities,” he said.
López also criticized the fact that, while the federal immigration system continues without structural reforms, the state legislative leadership has promoted punitive immigration policies instead of promoting fundamental solutions.
“Immigration policy deserves serious, substantive and, above all, humane solutions,” he said.
Schools marked by fear
For her part, Liz Monterrey Duval, a member of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) Board of Directors, said that during the first days of the operation she visited various schools to learn firsthand about the environment in which the students, teachers and principals lived.
She said she noticed the change in those schools that had previously been safe havens for many families. “The schools that were normally full of joy and energy felt quiet. There was sadness, confusion, and fear,” she commented.
Monterrey Duval recalled that on one of the days of the operation, the following was reported: absence of more than 30,000 CMS students, approximately 1 in 4 students in the district.
The official clarified that this figure did not correspond solely to immigrant students, but rather reflected the widespread impact that the operation had on the entire school community.
At the same time, he highlighted the response of educators, parents, and community organizations who worked to support students during those days.
Related: How immigration raids traumatize children and undermine the childcare system
More than a thousand reports during the operation
For her part, Stefania Arteaga, co-executive director of the Carolina Migrant Network, explained that the organization has been operating a community hotline since 2017 for report ICE activities and other immigration agencies.
Arteaga asserted that during the November operationThe hotline received more than a thousand reports related to Border Patrol activities in corridors with a high Latino presence, such as Central Avenue, South Boulevard and Nations Ford.
He said that initially people were reporting arrests, assaults, and property damage, but that week they began receiving calls from people trying to locate detainees.
And as the days went by, the telephone line was transformed into a state center for legal guidance.
“Through those calls, our paralegals received reports of people sleeping on the floor and cells full of individuals who had not eaten for hours or days, of lack of access to medical treatment, such as dialysis, and of psychological trauma,” he explained.
Arteaga recalled the recent passing of Prisciliano Trejo Ricano, A 29-year-old man died a few days after entering the Steward Detention Center in Georgia, where he did not receive adequate medical care to treat what was later found to be leukemia.
“These stories represent the collective trauma that our communities have experienced and need to be heard by the country and by Congress,” she said.
Despite this, he highlighted the community's solidarity response during the operation.
“We protected each other. The people protected the people. They stirred up a hornet's nest and found a hornet's nest.” organized community "He will not stop fighting," he said.
The hearing was convened by organizations such as the Hispanic Federation, Texas Civil Rights Project, Latino Victory Foundation, the Latin American Coalition, ourBRIDGE for KIDS, Actions NC, Poder Latinx, and the North Carolina Congress of Latino Organizations, among others.
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