‘Lookout, workers’: New app gives NC immigrants tools to track, respond to ICE
A man on his way to work last week was stopped for a seatbelt check in Sampson County and ended up in ICE custody because his work permit had lapsed, advocates for immigrants’ rights said Friday.
Most drivers would have gotten a ticket and been sent on their way, Siembra NC organizers said, but reports that the group has confirmed show Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents may be targeting certain counties and types of vehicles as they hunt for people who lack legal status to be in the country.
Siembra, a statewide immigrant worker organizing group, held a virtual news conference Friday to introduce a new web- and phone-based immigration enforcement app to the public. It’s a one-stop resource for tracking immigration enforcement patterns, so that families can safely “go about their day-to-day lives,” Siembra communications strategist Emanuel Gomez Gonzalez said.
“OJO Obrero,” or “Lookout, workers,” launched as Charlotte prepares for possible enforcement by federal border patrol agents. Mecklenburg County’s sheriff said agents could be there as soon as this weekend, the Charlotte Observer reported.
Gonzalez noted the move comes “at a time when people are eagerly waiting for the federal government to resource and fund programs like food assistance (and) provide aid in the form of health care.”
Tools to track, confirm and report ICE
The app opens with a slideshow of work vans and vehicles that ICE agents have targeted for traffic stops.
“If you are riding in one of these vehicles, please make sure that you have all appropriate documentation,” the slideshow warns.
Clicking through opens a map that is updated as Siembra NC’s team, community partners and attorneys confirm reports of ICE and Homeland Security activity that are submitted through the organization’s hotline: 888-622-4616.
Staff and volunteers seek photo or video evidence, audio recordings, people in local jails, and witness statements from family or friends of those detained, said Andrew Willis Garcés, who founded Siembra during President Donald Trump’s first administration.
The map lets users filter for different kinds of incidents and times of day, and each incident is tagged with more details, including what happened, where and when, plus a photo if available. Law enforcement and ICE officers’ faces are obscured in the photos.
It can take several days to verify a report is immigration enforcement and not law enforcement activity, organizers said.
A second interactive map identifies local jails and probation offices, including in the Triangle, where immigrants have been arrested or turned over to ICE officers. Other tools include an AI helper that teaches immigrants about their rights and a translator to help with key phrases in case Spanish-speaking users are approached or questioned.
The site has been in the works since July and can be installed on an iPhone or Android smartphone. It got an overwhelming number of visitors Friday and went temporarily offline, organizers said.
Giving people basic information now about their rights and what to do if ICE or Homeland Security stops them is helpful, because “we understand that in chaotic situations like being pulled over or being questioned by federal agents, it’d be very hard to remember this,” Gonzalez said.
Specific counties, vehicles may be targeted
Garcés noted about 99% of the reports so far were not confirmed, because there wasn’t enough evidence or because they learned ICE and Homeland Security were not involved. Confirmed reports show ICE may be stopping vehicles that they think immigrants are more likely to drive, Gonzalez said.
“All year we’ve watched people on their way to work or on their way to school get rounded up, often in the early morning hours. Not because they did anything wrong, simply because they were suspected of being in the country without authorization,” he said. “Workers in pickups and box trucks are the most common targets.”
Confirmed activities appear concentrated around the Interstate 85 and Interstate 40 corridors, from Wilmington to Raleigh to Charlotte. The highest risk of arrest and ICE detention for traffic-related offenses, such as driving without a license, appears to be in Gaston, Union and Montgomery counties, organizers said.
“Tens of thousands of immigrant workers who our state’s industries rely on are legally barred from owning a driver’s license, and local sheriffs and police departments are using this fact as a pretext for turning them over to ICE,” Siembra NC co-director Nikki Marín Baena said in a news release. “This isn’t safety. This is cruelty. This undermines our whole state’s economy.”
ICE says that anyone who violates federal immigration law is subject to arrest and detention, regardless of whether they have a criminal history.
NC counties that support ICE
According to the ICE website, five N.C. agencies have signed 287(g) “task force” agreements, which give local and state law enforcement officers limited powers to enforce immigration laws during their routine duties:
- Brookford Police Department (Catawba County)
- Beulaville Police Department (Duplin County)
- Newland Police Department (Avery County)
- Columbus County Sheriff’s Office
- Onslow County Sheriff’s Office
Two other less-intensive 287(g) programs also operate in North Carolina:
- The Jail Enforcement Model is used in three counties — Gaston, Henderson and Cabarrus — where deputies identify immigrants who are facing or have been convicted of criminal charges and turn them over to ICE.
- The Warrant Service Officer program operates in 19 counties, including a few with task force agreements. Under this program, ICE agents train, certify and authorize state and local law enforcement officers to handle federal administrative warrants in their jail. Judges do not issue administrative warrants, which are only for civil cases, such as immigration violations.
No Orange, Durham, Wake or Chatham County law enforcement agencies participate in 287(g) programs, the ICE website shows.
This story was originally published November 14, 2025 at 1:20 PM with the headline "‘Lookout, workers’: New app gives NC immigrants tools to track, respond to ICE."
