Letter to the editor: The ICE men cometh

First published in the Brunswick Beacon, 12.04.25

For over 30 years I lived in Cary, which boasts NC’s lowest rate of property and violent crimes, including robbery and murder. In 2022, FBI data ranked Cary America’s safest city. The targeting of Cary by Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) exposes the ugly truth beneath the fiction that Trump’s mass deportations are about making American cities safer.

Fernando Vasquez is an 18-year-old American citizen from birth. On Nov.18, two unmarked SUVs carrying armed ICE agents rolled up to the Cary construction site where Vazquez worked. Masked gunmen wearing no identification questioned Vasquez in Spanish and yanked an AirPod out of Vazquez’s ear. When Vazquez tried to retrieve it, one gunman shouted, “If you touch me, there’s going to be a problem.”

The gunmen handcuffed him, searched him, and pulled his wallet from his pocket. “They saw my North Carolina Real ID,” said Vasquez. “They could have let me free. But, no, they decided to take me.” Vazquez was forced into an SUV and driven away. When Vasquez said he was born in Raleigh the gunman questioning him became angry, then abruptly pulled off the road, dumped him a half-mile from where they seized him, threw his wallet and cards out of the SUV window and drove off. “They basically just kidnapped me,” said Vasquez. “I didn’t believe it would happen to me. I was born here.”

A video of his arrest went viral on TikTok, accumulating 3 million views and thousands of outraged comments. NC Gov. Josh Stein said, “They’re just sweeping sidewalks. They’re sweeping parking lots. They’re going into stores and churches. This is causing widespread fear, widespread uncertainty. This is not about public safety, and I wish that it were.”

Masked ICE gunmen are kidnapping American citizens on the streets of what used to be America’s safest city — not because they’re criminals or undocumented immigrants, but because their skin is dark. Is this the America you want?

Kristine Garrity

Calabash