North Carolina Immigration News: Arrests, ICE Laws, and Detention

North Carolina immigration news in 2025 and 2026 has been dominated by a sharp rise in federal arrests, a Border Patrol surge operation in Charlotte and the Triangle, new state laws forcing sheriffs and state agencies to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and a growing set of court fights and community responses. Between January 20, 2025, and March 10, 2026, federal agents recorded 6,374 immigration arrests in the state, roughly double the total from the prior two years combined.¹

How Much Enforcement Has Increased

The daily arrest pace in North Carolina roughly doubled after the change in administration, moving from about five per day in the final eighteen months of the Biden administration to about twelve per day under the Trump administration.² November 2025 saw the highest monthly total on record, 776 arrests, before the pace settled into roughly 576 to 612 per month in early 2026.¹

Who is being arrested has shifted too. Under the prior administration, about 82% of the roughly 2,000 people detained in the state had criminal convictions. That share has fallen to around 51%.² Between January and October 2025, at least 615 people with no criminal record were arrested, about double the 312 arrested in all of 2024. The steepest jump was among people with pending charges but no convictions, which rose nearly 300%, from about 250 in 2024 to roughly 1,230 in 2025.³ About two-thirds of arrests statewide came from local jails, state prisons, federal prisons, and other lockups rather than in the community.¹

Operation Charlotte’s Web

The most visible operation began November 15, 2025, when Border Patrol and ICE launched a surge in Charlotte led by Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino. Agents recorded 81 arrests in the Charlotte area within five hours on the first day.⁴ By November 18, the Department of Homeland Security reported more than 250 arrests. By the end of that week, the total exceeded 370.⁵ DHS said the purpose was to target “serious criminals, including alleged murderers and child sex offenders, and those who were released from jail after immigration detainers weren’t honored.” Of the 130 arrests reported during the first two days, DHS categorized 44 as “criminal illegal aliens.”⁶

The operation expanded to Raleigh and the Research Triangle by November 18.⁷ Bovino left Charlotte on November 20, reportedly shifting resources toward New Orleans, but DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin disputed that the operation had ended, posting that “Operation Charlotte’s Web isn’t ending anytime soon.”⁸

The Effect on Schools and Families

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, which usually sees 10,000 to 15,000 daily absences, recorded roughly 30,000 on Monday, November 17, the first school day after the operation began. Absences stayed elevated all week, running about 21,800 to 27,200 per day.⁵ In Durham, Superintendent Anthony Lewis said absence rates hit 29% by midweek, a level he compared to the pandemic.⁹

Parents kept kids home not out of fear that agents would enter buildings but out of fear of the trip. Lewis reported that agents had apprehended a person about a block from an elementary school, along a path children used to walk home.⁹ Charlotte high school students organized walkouts and silent protests. Parents formed volunteer patrols at drop-off and pickup.⁵

Governor Josh Stein said the raids were “stoking fear and dividing our community.” Durham Mayor Leo Williams, the county Board of Commissioners, and the Durham Public Schools board issued a joint statement calling the operations efforts that “compromise safety” and “undermine human rights.”¹⁰

New State Laws Forcing Cooperation With ICE

Two Republican-sponsored bills passed the General Assembly in June 2025. Governor Stein vetoed both on June 20, 2025.¹¹ Both vetoes were eventually overridden.

House Bill 318

HB 318, sponsored by Rep. Destin Hall, requires judicial officials to confirm the immigration status of anyone charged with a felony, certain violent misdemeanors, domestic violence protective order violations, or driving while impaired. If status cannot be confirmed, the person must be fingerprinted and ICE notified. Sheriffs are required to hold anyone with an ICE detainer for 48 hours past their scheduled release and to notify ICE before releasing them.¹² The House overrode Stein’s veto 72–48 on July 29, 2025, and the Senate followed 30–19, with Mecklenburg Democrat Rep. Carla Cunningham providing the decisive vote.¹³ HB 318 took effect October 1, 2025.¹⁴

Senate Bill 153

Senate Bill 153, the North Carolina Border Protection Act, reaches further. It requires state agencies including the State Highway Patrol, Department of Public Safety, and State Bureau of Investigation to cooperate “to the fullest extent of the law” with ICE and to enter into formal 287(g) agreements allowing trained state officers to perform immigration enforcement under ICE supervision. It also allows victims of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants to sue local governments with sanctuary policies, bars University of North Carolina system schools from obstructing enforcement, prohibits housing assistance and certain public benefits for undocumented immigrants, and requires audits of state benefit programs.¹²

The Senate overrode Stein’s SB 153 veto on July 29, 2025, but the House override stalled for nearly a year.¹⁵ On June 24, 2026, the House voted 71–47 to override after two lawmakers, Cunningham among them, left the chamber before the vote, changing the math needed to reach the three-fifths threshold.¹⁶ As of late June 2026, the SBI and Highway Patrol were working to comply.¹⁷

Rick Su, an immigration law professor at the UNC School of Law, summarized the change: “We’ve moved away from ‘you can’t block federal enforcement’ to ‘you now must do it.'”¹⁸

What Happens After an Arrest: Bond and Detention

On September 5, 2025, the Board of Immigration Appeals issued a precedential ruling in Matter of Yajure Hurtado (29 I&N Dec. 216) holding that immigration judges lack authority to grant bond to people who entered the United States “without inspection.” The BIA held that those individuals are “applicants for admission” subject to mandatory detention under the border processing statute, regardless of how long they have lived in the country or where they were arrested. The ruling binds all immigration judges nationwide.¹⁹

Immigration attorney Jamila Espinosa told Spectrum News that many immigrants in ICE custody in North Carolina were being denied bond because of the ruling, and that attorneys seeking relief had to appeal to the federal level, a “lengthy” process. ICE was also actively seeking “voluntary departure” agreements, under which detainees who signed were deported at the government’s expense rather than released. Reports from legal counsel described overcrowded facilities, poor medical care, and “rotten or moldy” food.²⁰

Sanctuary Counties and the Mecklenburg Standoff

DHS identified five North Carolina counties as “noncompliant sanctuary jurisdictions”: Buncombe, Chatham, Durham, Orange, and Watauga. Senator Thom Tillis added Mecklenburg, Wake, Guilford, and Forsyth.²¹ Mecklenburg has been the most visible: Sheriff Garry McFadden ended the county’s 287(g) agreement on his first day in office in 2019 and has said his office “is not participating in or supporting immigration enforcement actions.” McFadden has publicly criticized HB 318, saying it “brings nothing but fear, uncertainty” and warning it will make residents “more reluctant to talk to law enforcement.” He met with ICE officials in October 2025 to discuss communication during enforcement operations. He is seeking a third term in 2026.²²

The ACLU Warrantless-Arrest Lawsuit

On February 24, 2026, five plaintiffs filed a class action, Aceituno v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina with ACLU support.²³ Four of the named plaintiffs are U.S. citizens and one holds a U visa. Lead plaintiff Willy Wender Aceituno is a naturalized citizen and Charlotte resident. Two plaintiffs are brothers who are U.S. citizens arrested in January 2026.²⁴

The suit alleges DHS agents conducted arrests without warrants or probable cause, in violation of the legal standard requiring a clear reason to believe an individual is in the country illegally or is a flight risk. It cites a January 2026 internal ICE memorandum by senior official Todd Lyons that plaintiffs say encouraged agents to expand warrantless arrests by broadly redefining “flight risk.” The plaintiffs seek a court order blocking warrantless immigration arrests in North Carolina. DHS has called the allegations “categorically false.” As of mid-June 2026, the case is active and defendants have moved to dismiss.²⁵

Proposed Detention Facility Expansions

Federal authorities are pursuing three new or reopened immigration detention facilities in North Carolina.

In Winton (Hertford County), the private prison operator GEO Group is in negotiations with ICE to reopen the Rivers Correctional Institution, a facility with capacity for over 1,300 people that previously held ICE detainees before closing in 2021.
In Greensboro, ICE is considering a proposal from the Baptiste Group at the site of the closed American Hebrew Academy. The Greensboro City Council responded by amending local zoning rules to require special-use permits for detention facilities and to limit where they can be located.
In Concord, ICE is considering purchasing a 414,000-square-foot warehouse on Weddington Road that could hold up to 1,500 detainees. A leasing agent for the property said ICE had not contacted them as of June 2026.²⁶

Dozens of protesters gathered outside the federal courthouse in Charlotte on June 5, 2026, to oppose the planned expansions, and a similar rally took place at the General Assembly the previous week. As of June 2026, the Concord City Council had not adopted a formal resolution against the local facility.²⁷²⁸

The TPS Ruling and Its North Carolina Reach

On June 25, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court issued Mullin v. Doe, which removed legal barriers limiting the federal government’s ability to terminate Temporary Protected Status designations. The Court held that the TPS statute bars judicial review of non-constitutional claims regarding TPS termination decisions and found that an equal protection challenge to the termination of Haiti’s TPS designation was unlikely to succeed.²⁹ The ruling does not immediately end TPS protections but gives the executive branch broader authority to terminate them. The current administration has moved to terminate every TPS designation that came up for renewal, 13 in total. According to Rick Su, approximately 35,000 people in North Carolina could be affected.¹⁸

Where to Get Help

Several North Carolina organizations have moved quickly to fill gaps for immigrant families. Siembra NC has coordinated rapid-response ICE watch and safety patrol efforts across Charlotte and Durham. Durham Congregations in Action, a multifaith network representing hundreds of residents, has been running “Know Your Rights” training and advising people to carry DHS Form G-28 to secure legal representation if detained. Respuesta Rápida de Durham has focused on legal aid, including help with powers of attorney and childcare planning for families facing possible detention.¹⁰ In Wake County, the Wake Resiste network hosted by Emancipate North Carolina provides direct cash assistance and humanitarian aid to families affected by deportation proceedings.³⁰ Clergy from the North Carolina Council of Churches, representing 19 denominations, held a virtual press conference on November 20, 2025, condemning the enforcement actions, and congregations have been reviewing their legal policies after the Trump administration rescinded its “sensitive locations” policy, which had previously discouraged enforcement at schools, hospitals, and houses of worship.³¹

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