In a devastating turn of events, recent North Carolina ICE raids led to the arrests of dozens in Charlotte. These raids took place all over the city, from church areas to apartment complexes. The Trump Administration recently focused its attention on Charlotte, making them a target of a huge ICE surge. Reports were even made by Charlotte locals who physically watched ICE agents remove immigrant gardeners from neighborhoods while they worked. It’s a disturbing sight to see. Now, one Charlotte, North Carolina woman is talking about what she noticed recently in her own neighborhood.
TikToker @pullupspastapolitics said that she noticed a change in her neighborhood following Charlotte ICE arrests. She said there are “three-foot high” leaf piles sitting all over the neighborhood where she lives. This is unusual, as they are typically cleaned up by local gardeners who she believes to be immigrants. One of her neighbors apparently complained because maintenance and landscaping companies haven’t been cleaning up the leaves. As this TikToker points out, this is likely due to the fact that they’re well aware of the ICE raids taking place around the city.
According to @pullupspastapolitics, ICE was “going after people doing yardwork” and “putting up Christmas lights. They were arrested people who were working, who have been working in our community for decades.” Landscapers might feel afraid to go to work now, lest they be arrested by ICE and separated from their city and the families they know and love. It’s a sad reality that so many individuals are living with all over the city and beyond.
As this TikToker points out, American citizens are scared. A North Carolina resident, who wasn’t even an immigrant, was pulled out of his vehicle by ICE in their recent raids. They threw him to the ground even after he told them he’s been a citizen for quite some time. Everybody is feeling ICE’s terror at this point. As she goes on to say, “I encourage people to be a little bit more patient with people that are working for you right now… because they’re scared.”
One commenter stated in solidarity, “I would tell my lawn guy to run to my backyard, I’ll lock the gate.” Another person said, “I wrote an email to my HOA about this. They work on our neighborhood once a week and they are all Hispanic men. They are the kindest group of guys too. I really do not want them out trying to work our yards because of this.” DHS has no plans to stop anytime soon and it’s creating a major issue in so many cities. According to DHS, “We will not stop enforcing the laws of our nation until every criminal illegal alien is arrested and removed from our country.” When will it ever end?
