On Tuesday, Nov. 18, ICE agents arrived in North Carolina. 

They made themselves known in Charlotte, in Durham, in Raleigh. 

Hundreds of allegedly undocumented people were arrested, and thousands more  — many of them students — stayed in their homes out of fear of detainment. 

Where ICE was not was Carr Mill Mall in Carrboro. They weren’t prowling around the UNC-Chapel Hill Campus. They weren’t parked outside an elementary school in Durham. 

But those were all claims made on various social media platforms and unverified ICE tracking platforms. 

In one instance, a UNC-CH student posted on the anonymous social media site Yik Yak that they were holed up inside their dorm room for fear of being arrested. They asked if the rumors of ICE agents walking on Polk Place in the heart of campus were true. 

“Yes,” someone replied. They weren’t. 

With the widespread harm that has come to immigrant communities and non-immigrant communities alike as a result of immigration crack downs, there is a reasonable expectation of caution. One can hardly blame a mother for keeping her child home from school in fear that they might be separated indefinitely. But when the fires of misinformation are stoked — whether well-intentioned or out of malice — the resulting panic is at best unnecessary stress, and at worst, imposed cruelty separated from any humanity or compassion. 

Even when people post unverified information with the goal of helping — or warning — the impact does more harm than good.

In the hours that followed the first sightings of ICE in the Triangle, community members organized to collect information, provided care to those who couldn’t leave their houses and gathered at places where they thought immigration officers might show up to act as a buffer. 

Siembra NC is an immigrant advocacy group that, among other services, provides a map called Ojo Obrero that tracks ICE and Border Patrol sightings and arrests across the state. The instances are verified by Siembra before being posted and are often accompanied by photographic evidence. The map was a reliable resource for activists to use for organizing. 

But, at the same time, other tracking services popped up that included many more ICE sightings, seemingly unverified. People reposted sensationalized Instagram stories with dramatic emojis and bold text warning of ICE activity. 

Several reporters for the Durham Voice independently investigated one claim that ICE was seen at Carrboro Plaza in Carrboro, but couldn’t verify that it was true. ICE agents have been documented renting large cars and swapping out the license plates. The Carrboro Plaza report, along with many others, likely arose from the assumption that one or more large cars were being used by ICE agents. 

Even if well-intentioned, this information amounted to fear mongering. It distracted and divided community organization efforts and disrupted the ability for those in fear to go about their lives. 

The sordid alternative is that anonymous posters purposefully stoked fear in already vulnerable people, as it seemed that many people on Yik Yak did. 

This casual cruelty goes beyond willful ignorance. It is a poor excuse for humor that fails to understand the reality for many of our neighbors. 

For children of immigrants who were born in this country, ICE’s presence brings the possibility of being separated from their parents. 

For others who have legal status themselves, it brings the fear of being racially profiled because of their skin color. 

When a college student says that they are so afraid of leaving their dorm that they miss classes, they aren’t overreacting. They aren’t seeking attention. They are simply reacting to the reality that, for brown people in the United States, no legal status can protect them from being violently detained, and any attempt to goad them and to poke fun at their fear is a flippant cruelty that arises from ignorance of that reality. 

In the age of social media, misinformation is more prevalent and easily manufacturable than ever. But we still have the choice to be intentional about the information we share, and the recent ICE raids in the Triangle were an unfortunate example of what can happen when we aren’t.