Car horns, cheers, corrido music and protest chants filled the Market House in downtown Fayetteville on Monday.
The crowd, about 25 strong and adorned mostly in Mexican flags, was protesting the raids and detainments made by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other changes to immigration policy made since President Donald Trump came into office on Jan. 20.
“What the president is doing right now is very inhumane,” Viviana Jimenez, the protest organizer and daughter of immigrants, told CityView at the protest.
Like Jimenez, many protestors had immigrant parents at risk of being detained and deported under the Trump administration’s ramped-up ICE arrests and detainments. On Jan. 31 alone, ICE arrested 864 people, according to its post on X. On Jan. 30, it arrested 913 and another 964 on Jan. 29.
Trump asserted these arrests would target those with criminal backgrounds. ICE has detained people charged with crimes, including individuals accused of assault and drug possession. However, the application of the federal directives has been inconsistent, throwing communities across the country into uncertainty about who is at risk of arrest.
For example, NBC News found that only about 52% of arrests made on a single day in January were “criminal arrests.” Another NBC report found that ICE agents in New Jersey had detained and investigated individuals who are U.S. citizens.
Tribal communities in the Southwest are also speaking out about their members being questioned by immigration officials.
“Just because your friend was born here doesn’t mean your best friend can’t be taken away from you,” Gloria Herrera, a Hispanic Fayetteville native, told CityView.
Protesters at Monday’s demonstration told CityView that among the immigration policies they fear is Trump’s push to end “birthright citizenship.” The president’s executive order titled “Protecting The Meaning And Value Of American Citizenship” aims to revoke “birthright citizenship” to anyone whose parents are not permanent legal citizens of the United States.
Enshrined under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, birthright citizenship guarantees anyone born in the United States is a U.S. citizen, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.
Trump’s executive order was blocked on Jan. 23 by a Seattle-based judge who called it “blatantly unconstitutional.” Another three federal judges will decide this week whether to extend that block.
Garcia Herrera and her friends protested the Trump administration’s immigration policies, both at the Market House in downtown Fayetteville and around it, on Feb. 3, 2025. Credit: Morgan Casey / CityVIEW 
Adelina was one of the handful of protestors outside downtown Fayetteville’s Market House on Feb. 3, 2025. She emphasized that the recent changes to immigration policy impacts a lot of industries as Hispanic immigrants are the primary laborers for agriculture and construction companies. Credit: Morgan Casey / CityView 
Many protestors at the Feb. 3, 2025 anti-Trump immigration policy protest flew Mexican flags. Credit: Morgan Casey / CityView 
While Cumberland County has about a 13% Hispanic population, the many Hispanic protestors wanted to ensure their voices were being heard in response to Trump’s crack down on immigration. Credit: Morgan Casey / CityView
Despite her concerns about ongoing federal immigration policies, Herrera chanted proudly alongside other protestors at Monday’s demonstration. She said she had to speak out for those who fear ICE detainment more than she does.
“Having fear means we’re never going to be heard,” Herrera said. “We have to risk as much as we can to be heard, even if our rights are at stake.”
At the protest, while some drivers shouted obscenities and “Go back to your country” from rolled-down windows, most cars honked in support. In between cheering for the cars that honked, protestors made song requests to play from the speakers and sang along to them. They danced and took selfies.
People joined as the hours wore on, bringing more posters and flags. They had all heard about the protest from Facebook and Instagram posts Jimenez made the night prior, reposts of those posts and by word of mouth.
Jimenez said organizing the protest was a spontaneous decision. On Sunday night, while talking with her parents and friends about the recent ICE raids, she felt she had to do something.
“I just felt like no one in Fayetteville has spoken up about it,” Jimenez said. “I needed to speak about it, so I organized it.”
While not intentional, the protest came on a day of national immigration protests. People took to the streets and businesses closed across the country on Monday for a “Day Without Immigrants,” a protest movement that started in 2017 to oppose the first Trump administration’s immigration policies. Many of the protests have been held in cities with high Hispanic populations, like Los Angeles, in which just under 50% of the population identify as Hispanic. Cumberland County has about a 13% Hispanic population.
“Even though there’s not that many Hispanics in the community of Fayetteville, we’re still speaking up,” Herrera said. “We’re still making an impact.”
To learn about your rights when interacting with ICE, head to Siembra NC’s ICE/La Migra webpage or the American Civil Liberty Union’s Immigrants’ Rights webpage.
Visite la página web de ICE/La Migra de Siembra NC o la página web de Derechos de los Inmigrantes de la Unión Americana de Libertades Civiles para conocer sus derechos al interactuar con la Migra.
CityView Reporter Morgan Casey is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Morgan’s reporting focuses on health care issues in and around Cumberland County and can be supported through the CityView News Fund.